INTRODUCTION
“There is no end to the writing of books,” we are told. Certainly it seems to be the fact that one book leads to another, and the many demands made upon me for explanations of points, problems and paradoxes, contained in some of my recent works, have induced me to a comprehensive effort in the present volume. Whether I shall have succeeded in throwing more light upon the dark problems of Occultism, or only in making confusion worse confounded, it is for the reader to judge. “All truth is paradoxical,” says Laotze, the great philosopher of Quietism. In such case it were hard indeed to offer any argument which may be regarded as final and conclusive, and especially is this the case in reference to the debatable ground of Occultism.
Yet a very wise writer has said that nothing can be accepted as true which does not submit to a mathematical statement. This is a tacit confession of faith in the law of numerical ratios, the geometry of the universe which underlies all revelation. We cannot truly be said to know a thing until we have reduced it to a mathematical concept.
We may conveniently regard life as manifesting in three stages or degrees, namely, Principles, Causes and Effects. Our conscious relation to these three stages of life gives rise to Ethic, Philosophy and Science.
Science is what we know of the universe; philosophy what we think of it; ethic, how that thought affects our conduct. Thus the final appeal is to utility. The virtue of everything is in its use. Science, philosophy and ethic must eventually submit to the test of utility.
It is not for the sake of the mathematical statement, nor yet for the pleasure of abstract argument, but chiefly for the sake of utility that I have attempted this popular exposition of Occultism, for I think it deserves more attention than has hitherto been given to it.
The idea that Occultism serves any useful end in life may not at once appeal to the casual reader. The deeper thinker will, however, discern in any coherent system of thought, in any orderly statement of fact, a possible means of self-adjustment to the problems of life, howsoever dimly apprehended. To the categorical imperative of Kant—I must because I ought, but why ought I?—Occultism offers a very definite answer. It gives a cogent reason for all action, and may indeed be finally judged on its ethical value. It will not be found inadequate.
Purposive action has no value without free will in man. That “free will in man is necessity in play” is true only of those who are not divine conspirators. We are fated to the extent that we are ignorant of the cosmical and spiritual laws—the one order is a reflex of the other—by which the universe is upheld. We are culpable to the extent that we neglect those laws we know. Science has succeeded in harnessing many of the forces of Nature to the service of mankind. Philosophy will bring man into conscious relations with the laws governing his existence, and ethic will instruct him concerning their employment for the good of the race.
To the extent that we understand the laws of our being and use them for our personal benefit, and through ourselves for the good of all mankind, we become conspirators with the Divine Will, conscious co-operators towards “that one divine far-off event to which the whole creation moves,” an apotheosis warranted by the trend of the physical and spiritual evolution of humanity, and prophetically indicated by the words: “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, to crown him with glory and worship.”
As fragments in the fabric of a spiritual upbuilding, as detached observations of the law of universal harmony, as things of isolated interest, all conspiring to the founding of a single idea, these curiosities of Occultism are offered to those who are able to appreciate them.
Sepharial.
CHAPTER I
THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF OCCULTISM
Before one can enter intelligently into an understanding of Cosmic Symbolism, which underlies all occult science, it is necessary that he should have some well-defined conception of the meaning and purpose of Occultism. Otherwise he will occupy the position of one who moves in the dark, a slave to formularies and dogmas, following blindly where others lead and without any definite idea as to his destination.
Misconceptions regarding Occultism are very prevalent and are found to affect the thought of many who in their own walks are exceedingly learned. Occultism is a broad and comprehensive system of thought; a synthetic philosophy aiming at self-realization, and as much concerned in the practical development of the psychical and spiritual powers latent in man as in the study of those wider cosmical laws which hitherto have escaped scientific observation, but which are found to afford a ready explanation of man’s embodied existence, and the wide and varied range of his faculties, aptitudes and individual characteristics.
If Occultism were merely a speculative system of thought regarding the hidden things of Nature, it could never find practical demonstration. If the occult were merely the “hidden,” then Röntgen rays, wireless telegraphy and metabolism would have been facts of Occultism at quite a recent date. In the first case it is confidently affirmed that Occultism, so far from being speculative, is capable of instant demonstration; and in the second case it anticipated the discoveries of Science by analogous psychical processes involved in the exercise of clairvoyance, psychometry, telepathy and hypnotism. Occultism is not indeed mainly concerned in the domain of physics, but rather in those immaterial forces which are at the back of all material forms, of those universal laws which find their reflection in the constitution and development of man and the cosmos to which he is immediately related.
Thus while it seeks to demonstrate some unexplored facts in Nature, it also offers a coherent system of thought in which those facts find appropriate places, and so in effect it affords an ethical basis for all action which is more comprehensive than any system which is the outcome of an insular sociology or a national religion. Its peculiar value as a body of teaching lies in its inclusiveness and catholicity, its freedom from dogma, and its wide suggestiveness. While offering a definite system of cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis, it seeks only to throw new light on old truths, being entirely constructive and in no sense controversial. Unlike orthodox Science and Religion, however, Occultism does not ignore the facts of man’s psychic and spiritual experience. Rather it makes use of these as links which bring us into relations with that greater world and that higher life which for Science has no interest and for Religion no certain meaning. Thus when Science repudiated the Chaldean account of the Genesis, Religion was left with no ground upon which it could convict Science of error! The Occultist remains wholly unaffected by the incident, not because he is either unscientific or irreligious, but because the Book of Genesis is for him as true to-day as when it was written. It is the work of Occultists, and only Occultists can rightly apprehend it.
In the biblical cosmogenesis we are not concerned with ordinary divisions of time called “day” and “night,” periods of twelve hours each, more or less, but with vast periods known as pralayas and manvantaras, or periods of manifestation and obscuration, taking place alternately. These great periods answer to the systole and diastole motion of the Great Breath, the out-breathing and in-breathing of the Cosmic Life-force. In each of these great out-breathings the seven stages of evolution are realized: the Igneous, Gaseous, Fluidic, Mineral, Vegetable, Animal and Human. But those monads that have reached any one of these stages do not become involved in the scheme until that stage is reached to which they attained in the last period of cosmic activity; but from that stage they resume their evolution.
Now as we have every reason to presume that our present period of activity is not the first of our solar system, we have reason to place a special meaning on the words Berâsit brâ Elohim âth hashemâyim veâth heâretz: In the beginning the Elohim compounded the original matter of the heavens and of the earth. Long periods of cosmic evolution elapsed, and at the point where the Great Breath again reached our planet we take up the thread of the Chaldean account veheâretz tohu vebohu: “and the earth was chaotic and barren.” The use of the prefix vau as a copulative conjunction at the beginning of each separate statement, links up the various stages of the evolutional scheme without defining the vast ages, the “days” and “nights” of the cosmos, which intervene. From the great aqueous development we pass to the amphibians, the “creeping things,” the avians or “flying things and fowls of the air,” until by a process of natural evolution and natural selection, determined entirely by the individual power of adaptation to environment, we at length arrive at the evolution of the human-animal. The brief but perfectly scientific statement, “And God (the Elohim) made men out of the dust of the earth,” is a process which involves an indefinitely long period of evolution.
But so far we have only the ascending arc of physical evolution, which in effect found its apotheosis in the production of giant human forms, fitted to the great struggle for existence with the saurians and pachyderms and all that mammoth life, both vegetable and animal, by which it was environed. “There were giants in the earth in those days.” Nature had done her utmost in the production of colossal forms of animal life, she had expended all her strength.
It was at this point, where Nature unaided would have failed, and in process of time died down to her root, as a tree that has put forth leaf and flower and fruit, that the upward arc of physical evolution was met by a downward arc of spiritual involution. The two processes are well defined: 1. God made man out of the dust of the earth. 2. And breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives.
In effect, from this union of spirit and matter we get the genesis of the psyche or soul: “and man became a living soul.” The process of becoming is one that was neither immediate nor complete. Most of us are still in the process of becoming. But a certain number of advanced monads became living souls, realizing their spiritual consciousness while in the flesh. These were the “sons of the gods” referred to in the text. All else were the sons of men. “And the sons of God looked upon the daughters of men and saw that they were fair.” The self-conscious souls took to wife the daughters of a less-evolved race, a process that would seem to be necessary to the further uplifting and spiritual vitalizing of the inferior grades of human life. During the present manvantara or period of cosmic activity we have traditional occult knowledge of four great races of humanity before our own, each of which attained to a successively higher state of civilization, the Atlantean transcending the Lemurian, as in process of time the Aryan will transcend the Atlantean. And as each period of cosmic activity has afforded means of successively higher human development, it is a question as to what has become of those very high forms of spiritualized humanity who were the final product of the material and spiritual evolution of past manvantaras. Earth-born in their origin, and linked to this Earth’s humanity by a thousand compatriot ties, by bonds of blood and heritage, by lives of tireless service, they wait the time when humanity shall have evolved to that stage when personal intercourse is compatible with their own spiritual status and the needs of our further evolution. To them, as pioneers, guardians or masters of the race, we are indebted for the universal tradition which here and there is gathered up by Occultists the world over, and which is realized in its integrity only by those who have fought their way to that place in the scale of spiritual evolution where detachment is possible. To them is attributable the founding of the great world religions, and at the outset these “Sons of God” were the spiritual instructors of the world. Each race produces its own crop of masters, evolved initiates sworn to the service of man for ever. As there is a natural selection, so there is a spiritual selection, and from the moment a human form is invested with a soul (psyche) that soul continues to progress. There is an evolution that has come along the natural line to the production of human lives of great faculty and attainment; and there is an evolution that has followed the spiritual line. Not all evolved humans are invested with the breath of lives. Thus a man may be an intellectual giant and yet not be ensouled, for the psyche is one thing and the pneuma is another. The psyche, or nephesh is common to man and the lower animals and is capable of immense development when investing the human form, but unless this nephesh is illuminated by the ruach or pneuma it cannot advance beyond a certain stage in the present cycle of evolution. Hence the saying, “Work while the day is yet with you, for the night cometh when no man shall work.”
Specialized humanity is a composite of spirit, mind, soul and body. The element or principle in man which distinguishes him from the animal (whether human in form or otherwise), is the Mind. Only in this possession is he truly man. The word man comes, indeed, from the root man (Sansk.), to think. The limitations set up by embodiment of this thinking self is the primary cause of self-realization. All forms of life are conscious, but only spiritualized humanity is self-conscious, or individualized.
The criterion of consciousness is response to stimulus. It is to be seen in chemic action, in vegetation and in animal life. If the Day’s-eye (daisy) were not conscious of the sunrise it would not open its petals. You may call it automatism, a reflex of the chemic action of light. You will be wiser if you call it consciousness of light, and so spare yourself the trouble of pushing the question back indefinitely, for somewhere or other you must admit response to stimulus and there you must posit consciousness.
Thus while the animal soul in man responds to stimulus of every kind coming to it through the sense-channels, the mind responds also to a higher and immaterial gamut of vibrations, that is to say, to spiritual stimulus. As man he continues to evolve while all other forms of life remain in statu quo. The monads investing them have not been caught up by the Over-soul; they have not reached the stage where their mass-vibration is capable of responding to the spiritual impact; they are not attracted.
As the outcome of human evolution through successive ages, cycles and manvantaras there is evolved the Christ, or perfect man. The mystical interpretation does not suffice. We require a living individual who shall stand to us for the “man made perfect” through that same process of spiritual evolution which is to be our own means of final liberation from samsāra, or cyclic rebirth. The Christ is truly a generic title. The sons of God are legion, and all of them are invested with the Spirit of Truth or Christ principle. They are the Children of Light, the Great White Brotherhood, and at their head is the Lord, the gravitating Centre of this world’s humanity. He is the manifestation in time and space of the inscrutable Deity, the revelation of God to man. The mythological interpretation of the Christ does not suffice any more than the mystical. The Sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac may well stand as symbols of the Master and his twelve disciples, but they will not suffice for the historical fact, for the fact is not limited to a drama in which thirteen characters were at one time employed. It is a drama that is playing through all time, in all places and among all peoples. It is the great work of spiritual selection and co-ordination, and the twelve signs are the twelve gates through which the elect of all humanity will enter into the New Jerusalem or Spiritual Kingdom of a perfected humanity. Neither is the kingdom one that is afar off. Its denizens are to be found among embodied humanity at this day. The Fathers and many of the early rulers of the great countries were special representatives of the Spiritual Hierarchy which at later stages in the history of the world sent forth its emissaries to become world-teachers, empire-makers, legislators, warriors and inventors, each speaking the Word that the world then had need of. Beside them are to be found the Occultists of the East and West, followers of their respective Gurus, Sadhus, Yogis and Teachers, aspirants to the heirloom of the ages, the Gupta-Vidya or Hidden Knowledge; with here and there a messenger under sealed orders, passing from one country to another; a host of psychic-researchers and higher-thought lecturers, the aide-de-camps, sappers and enlisting officers of the vast army of recruits, regulars and veterans who are enrolled under this standard.
To the Occultist the universe is a symbol and every part of it is symbolical. Although essentially an Idealist he does not attempt the rôle of those visionaries who would argue the universe out of existence. He may call it elusive but not an illusion, for his own existence depends on his consciousness of the world about him and his well-being upon the degree to which he understands and observes the laws of that universe of which he is an integral part. For if it be said that the world has no existence apart from our consciousness, it may with equal truth be said that our consciousness has no existence apart from the world to which it is related. What we understand as the laws of the universe are formulated in terms of our thought, but inasmuch as the laws of thought are imposed on us by existence, it is clear that we do not ourselves impose cosmic laws, but we merely apprehend them. It is not in the Idealistic sense that the universe is a symbol, but in the real sense of it being the embodiment or out-realizing of the Supreme Life and Mind. As symbol the universe is the revelation of all time, of the past and the future; the repository of all history, the source of all prophecy, the synthesis of actuality. That Consciousness which is simultaneously immanent in all the universe is called the Universal Mind. The Platonic definition of God as “That whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is illimitable” comes as nearly to this conception of the Divine Mind as it is possible for words to compass. Man is a centre of consciousness in the Divine Mind from the time that he realizes his spiritual existence, a soul investing a cell in the Brain of the Grand Man. As such he becomes subject to the higher spiritual laws of Being and enters into the Divine Conspiracy. The evolving monads circulate and finally become impounded in one or another of the various organs of the Grand Man, in agreement with their several states of evolution, passing from one to another of them during the successive incarnations of the Deity. In his effort to reach a higher sphere of consciousness and activity, a wider sphere of influence and a greater measure of free will, man comes to realize that obedience to the law of his being is the means of attainment. Thus every man is a law unto himself, and the truly wise are they who are able to say in all consciousness: “Thy will be done.” For human safety and happiness are only assured by devotion to the highest good, and this is the occult view of the dependence of mankind on an all-seeing and beneficent Spirit “in whose service is perfect freedom.”
Occultism, therefore, whether consisting in the development and exercise of one’s individual psychic powers, in systematic and impartial inquiry as to evidence of these powers in others, or in the pursuit of such studies as astrology, kabalism, yoga, hypnotism, etc., reaches out from such vague beginnings into regions of thought and aspiration that transcend the average mind and are seen to culminate, in specialized cases, in the attainment of powers which may be called miraculous and of attributes that are truly godlike.
CHAPTER II
THE PROBLEMS OF SCIENCE
It is quite a popular misconception that credits Science with exact methods and certain knowledge on all matters concerning which it has given an opinion. There is, in fact, a slavish reverence for the dicta of Science which is as inconsistent as formerly was the submission of the public mind to religious dogmatic teaching. And if, as some writers assert, there still exists a conflict between Religion and Science it is at least satisfactory to see that to-day Science appears to be getting its own back to a creditable extent. If Science makes appeal to the popular imagination or proves its claim to public recognition and support on the grounds of utility, Religion has only itself to blame if it fails to come into line with the established facts of scientific discovery and lacks the enterprise which is necessary to give it a modern representation. Instead of mumbling orthodoxies about the saving of souls, Religion could very profitably concern itself with the task of proving that man has a soul to save. It could use the argument afforded by modern experimental psychology. It could observe the scientific method, and could without loss of dignity employ the facts of Science in the upbuilding of a scheme of thought which has man’s spiritual welfare as the end in view. When we recognize the fact that it is our conception of God and of our relations with Him that is alone effective in the work of regeneration and reform, and that this altered view-point is largely due to the widening of the mental horizon by scientific discovery and a philosophy adapted thereto, then religiously-disposed people do wrongly to ignore the facts of Science, however much they may appear to conflict with orthodox notions of the relations of God to man. It is little more than three centuries ago that the custodians of religious belief burned Giordano Bruno at the stake for daring to declare that there were more worlds than one. In his Della Causa Principio ed Uno (Of the First and Only Cause) Bruno says: “The divine Omnipotence is more aptly expressed in an infinity of worlds of various dimensions than in the production of a single world of infinite dimensions.... Infinite variability is the eternal juvenescence of God.” That which happened to Bruno in the name of Holy Religion was barely escaped by Copernicus because of his heresy in declaring the Sun to be the centre of the system and the Earth one of its satellites moving about it. It was a pagan doctrine and belonged properly to Pythagoras. The history of Science reveals many such persecutions of its devotees, and yet in modern times it cannot be said that Science is without its prejudices. It nearly killed religious belief in the nineteenth century owing to its recognition of the Materialistic hypothesis.
Yet when we come to examine the claims of modern Science, or what popularly goes by that name, we find that it is largely hypothetical and that sciences which are usually known as “exact” are by no means so.
Science has no certain knowledge of the origin of life and consciousness. Many distinguished men have sought to define life. Dr. Alfred R. Wallace in his World of Life points out how inadequate are all these definitions, and wisely refrains from adding to them. Consciousness as a by-product of organic matter was quite correct science fifty years ago. To-day, in the presence of many well-attested facts which go to prove the possibility of consciousness apart from organism as we know it, the man of science is not at all sure that consciousness is anything of the sort. Modern psychology is a new leaf in the book of Nature which until quite recently had not been deciphered. We are getting our facts sporadically, a few at a time, and each new discovery changes our ideas concerning things which had passed for correct theory. The facts remain; our views of them are changed. We really have no certain scientific knowledge about the wonderful conversion of inorganic to organic matter. The alchemy of Nature baffles us.
Even the cosmic theory is incomplete and full of anomalies. In the vortex theory there is nothing to show why some swirls of cosmic matter became suns and others planets. There are two theories regarding the solar system diametrically opposed to one another. There are similarly two theories regarding the Moon. The most recent theory is that the Moon acts as a brake upon the Earth by causing the tides, which run contrary to the axial rotation of the earth, thereby slowing down its rotation and causing a longer day than formerly. But the same theory requires that the Moon is gradually enlarging its own orbit and getting farther away from the Earth, which is inconsistent with our records of ancient observations of eclipses, etc., for in order to agree our calculations with the observed positions of the Moon at these ancient epochs, we have to augment the present mean motion of the Moon in its orbit by a quantity equal to about 10´´t₂, which means ten seconds for the first century and the same quantity multiplied by the square of the centuries for times anterior. In other words, the Moon was moving quicker in a smaller orbit in former days. But this supplemental theory is wholly destructive of the first regarding the Moon’s tidal action. For if the Moon is getting farther away from us, its tidal influence is also decreasing, and the “brake” power being lessened, the Earth’s axial rotation must be increasing in velocity and the day must be getting shorter than formerly, which is the exact converse of what was argued in the first place. Hence we see how, in their efforts to explain observed facts, scientific men can put up two mutually destructive theories. Only recently, in the Solar eclipse of 17th April, 1912, we had an illustration of an exact science blundering in practice. The Connaissance des Temps, the official organ of the French astronomers, gave this eclipse as total, while the Nautical Almanac gave it correctly as partial, the apparent diameter of the Moon, depending on its anomaly, being some 20´´ less than that of the Sun.
The theory of what is called the attraction of gravitation is one of the scientific facts which have recently been abandoned as unsatisfactory. It is found that the theory of “attraction” does not answer to the facts as experimentally determined. Theories that are inelastic are apt to be negatived by the discovery of new facts or modified beyond recognition by extended observations. The Earth itself is a huge magnet whose radial influence extends some fourteen feet beyond its surface, and this fact has to be taken into account in all local magnetic observations.
The permeability of matter was a fact that had been under scrutiny for a long time before the discovery of the Röntgen rays. Sir David Brewster notes the passage of carbon through solid wood by means of electric fluid, and by an electric current an acid may be separated from its sodium base and passed through dilute syrup of violets without changing the colour of the vegetable solution. The question then arises, in what form was the carbon in the one case and the acid in the other when they passed through the respective media? Obviously their atomic vibrations were temporarily raised in such degree by electrical action as to change them from their normal characters. I suggest to psychologists that something of the same or a similar nature may occur in the case of individuals when acting under the influence of hypnotism or spiritual afflatus, ecstasy, etc. The question is whether they can be rendered permanent effects.
But these are not by any means the whole of the problems confronting modern Science, which nevertheless has a tendency to become dogmatic in other matters with which it is not officially concerned, as one may learn from a reading of Häckel’s Riddle of the Universe. In Ernst Häckel we see probably the last of the old school of materialistic philosophers. Another problem is that of atomic arrangement. It has been observed that two chemical bodies composed of exactly the same number of atoms of the same elements assume entirely different characteristics by reason of their respective atomic arrangement. This fact, while wholly unexplained, opens up many interesting psychological issues and serves by analogy to explain why two human beings compounded of exactly similar cosmic elements, manifest different characters and faculties. Science has too long neglected the free use of its own hypothesis of the solidarity of the system, and while astronomy employs interplanetary action in all its calculations, it scouts the idea of astro-meteorology and relegates astrology to the limbo of antiquated superstitions. Yet both these concepts are necessary and logical dependents of the cosmical hypothesis.
Up to the present day Science has ignored psychology and opposed the claims of psycho-therapeutics. Medical science other than that depending on surgery will soon find that the process of readjustment in the human organism rendered necessary by the rapidly changing conditions of modern civilization and the opening-up of new centres of activity in the mind-sphere of the world, will present a new series of pathological conditions to which the prescriptions of the Pharmacopoeia are altogether inadequate. The psychic origin of disease will have to be admitted and provided against. The x-factor in human pathology which defies the action of drugs and evades the scalpel, call it by what name we may, will increasingly assert itself, and medical men will have perforce to take it into their counsels, make friends with it and get to understand its vagaries. The plurality of worlds and the habitability of the other planets in the solar system, taught by Pythagoras in the sixth century B.C., has received a certain speculative recognition by astronomers, notably Camille Flammarion, Richard Proctor, Schiaparelli and Sir Robert Ball, in recent years. It was affirmed as fact by that remarkable man of science and inspiration, Baron Swedenborg. But in a contemporary issue of the journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Prof. Aitken, of the Lick Observatory, states, as the result of his researches, that the Moon is a dead world, with the exception perhaps of low forms of vegetable life sustained by water vapour exuding from the Moon’s interior; Mercury gets seven times as much heat as the Earth and keeps the same face towards the Sun, offering the alternative of an eternal night or an equally unending tropical heat and daylight, from which it is not protected by any atmosphere. Venus, having many characteristics similar to the Earth, is admitted to be problematical, since it is not yet decided whether its day and year are equal or not. If they are, then it is uninhabitable. Mars has a rare atmosphere, and there is not enough water on the planet to fill an American lake. It has a low temperature, and there may be vegetable and animal life there, but no beings of intelligence. The “canals” may be natural or artificial canals or merely earthquake markings. Jupiter is a semi-sun, its development is in a state of chaos, and it is probably gaseous throughout with matter distributed as on the Sun, there being no defined surface or crust. Saturn resembles Jupiter, but probably is not so far advanced, and it is even less fitted for human habitation than Jupiter.
We see therefore that as between the teaching of Pythagoras and that of Prof. Aitken there is a great gulf fixed. It will probably be bridged by a little freer use of the scientific imagination that Prof. Huxley extolled. The great American astronomer has argued humanity out of existence in a manner so complete as to warrant the instant dismantling of the statue of Bruno by the Vatican. But alas for the shortcomings of dogmatic science, we have not yet been told how or why the Earth alone is favoured by the presence of humanity. We are left to speculate upon the question as to what has become of the Moon’s humanity, supposing this dead orb was once alive and afforded habitable conditions. We are left wondering why conservative Nature evolved the planets Neptune and Uranus—which “are so far away from the Sun that its light and heat can hardly be effective in protecting life upon them, even should life in any way originate there”—if they are never to come within the life-belt limit of the solar rays! These vapourings are altogether unworthy of the name of Science, and are, in their way, as fanciful and speculative as any of the superstitions of a primitive religion. Who gave the astronomer to know that man as we see him is the only sort of humanity or intelligent being that can exist? It is open to him to remark that even should there be forms of intelligent life on other planets we should not recognize them as human. That is beside the mark; we do not recognize the human by its form, we do not confound the man with the animal part of him; and we may even speak of discarnate humanity. In every possible way we protest that articulate language, which infers articulate thought and intelligence, is the criterion of the human, and in this category we include for sociological reasons all that are of human generation, whether intelligent and articulate or not. Of the “infinite variability” of God as expressed in Nature, the astronomer takes no count. Here on this globe of ours we find the human persisting in temperatures varying from over + 150° to - 30°, and we have no reason for suggesting that the power of adaptation to environment is at the maximum in this world. Violent ophthalmia and even madness would result in us if “the earth’s green livery” were suddenly and permanently changed to red. But a very little alteration in the chemical constitution of the vitreous fluid in the eye would render us immune from these evils, and we have every reason for thinking that were such a colour-change to take place, Nature would not be long in adapting herself to the new conditions. But she would first be sure that they were likely to be permanent, for although very amicable, the old lady is extremely cautious and prudent! What we know as solar light and heat have no existence outside the earth’s atmosphere, and even within it they only have the values that our sensation-consciousness gives to them; so that all we can scientifically assume in regard to those planets that have no atmosphere is that their humanities, if they have any, must be physiologically different from man as we know him. We cannot argue that he does not exist or that he cannot exist on them.
The sum of the matter is this, we have need of a Religion that is scientific, and equally of a Science that is religious. What we do not positively know we may logically infer, but we have to guard ourselves against the tendency to take the inference for fact and to dogmatize about things which are wholly unrelated to our personal experience. The many curious observations I shall have occasion to make in the course of these pages are so remote from general experience and so far removed from scientific scrutiny as to belong to the category of things called “occult,” and it was therefore expedient that the reader should have a fairly clear idea that all the statements of orthodox science do not rest upon the immovable rock of observed fact, and for this reason are not so well founded as many of the conclusions of occult science. It is advisable also that the reader should discern between the theoretical value of a statement and its experimental value. Many things which appear reasonable will not respond to test, and others that seem unreasonable are found nevertheless to be true.
CHAPTER III
THE MODERN MIRACLE
It has been said that the medical practice of the future will have to provide for the interference in ordinary therapeutic methods of an x-factor, which is amenable to hypnotic suggestion and to auto-suggestion, but which on rare occasions assumes a more positive and extraordinary form, and acts spontaneously. Indeed, we may have to admit the possibility of an extraneous healing power acting independently of medical skill and contrary to all recognized therapeutic agents, medicinal or clinical.
An instance of this is to be seen in what is called the Modern Miracle. A miracle, it should be understood, is not supernatural. We have no reason for prescribing limits to Nature’s powers. A miracle is simply an abnormal manifestation of those powers, and hence something to be wondered at. The case in point is that of Miss Dorothy Kerin, who on the night of Sunday, the 18th February, 1912, being bedridden with advanced tuberculosis, concomitant disease of the kidneys, and finally suffering from loss of sight and speech, together with some signs of aphasia, was suddenly and miraculously cured entirely of all ailments, and when medically examined was pronounced to be absolutely free from tubercle bacillus, or any other form of morbid disease, and to be in complete possession of all her faculties and normal bodily functions. The evidence is unassailable and the facts beyond dispute. We have to arrange our thought and modify our therapy to accommodate these facts.
Dorothy Kerin was born on the 28th November, 1890, in London, her father being Irish. She received an ordinary middle-class education in a private school, and would have gone on the stage, where her sister, Norah Kerin, has achieved considerable success, but for the break in her health.
At the time of her wonderful recovery she had not stood up for five years, and latterly had suffered from partial loss of memory, sight, hearing and speech. Yet she was always bright and cheerful, and her invariable sweetness of disposition, her patience and gentleness, endeared her to all her friends and relatives, and made her greatly beloved by those who came in contact with her. She was one of those who “suffered all things gladly,” and was by nature of a religious disposition. The following account of her recovery is extracted from the Daily Mirror report of the 19th February—
“Dorothy Kerin is convinced that her remarkable recovery of apparent health is literally ‘a miracle.’
“Her account of the angelic vision, which on Sunday night restored her sight, hearing and strength and left her painless, happy and ‘feeling better than I ever felt in my life before,’ may be ascribed to hysteria by sceptics, but, whatever the cause, the facts of her recovery are beyond dispute.
“Dr. Frederick Norman, of Brixton, her physician, is, of course, deterred by professional etiquette from public discussion of her case.
“‘But it is no secret that my husband was incredulous,’ said Mrs. Norman to the Daily Mirror yesterday, ‘when he was informed that Dorothy was “quite well.”’
“‘He did not consider on Saturday that she could possibly remain alive more than a day or two. The girl had been in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, St. Peter’s Home for Incurables at Kilburn, and other institutions, but was sent home finally as a hopeless case two years ago.
“‘She has not stood up for five years, and latterly was blind and deaf and utterly weak, taking only occasional doses of brandy and other stimulants.’
“Dr. Norman has been compelled to safeguard his patient. No fewer than sixty people saw her yesterday, but such a reception has now been stopped. A perfectly healthy girl could not stand the constant excitement of receiving visitors eager to interrogate her. Three days ago, it must be remembered, she was in an advanced stage of consumption.
“For breakfast yesterday Miss Kerin ate wheat-meal porridge, bacon and tomatoes, and drank two cups of coffee. A beefsteak was cooked for her lunch.
“‘I slept last night more soundly than I ever remember doing,’ Miss Kerin told the Daily Mirror yesterday. She read the Ten Commandments printed on the base of a minute toy magnifying glass with perfect ease. Another doctor who was present said he could not read such tiny print.
“‘A fortnight ago,’ said her mother, ‘Dolly could not call things by their proper names, and often did not know us. Bread was “soft, white stuff,” fish was “white stuff with needles in it,” nut-milk chocolate she asked for as “lumpy sweet.”
“‘Now she can bath herself and is not an invalid at all. Often during her long illness her temperature went up to 105.’
“Miss Kerin shakes hands firmly, and her palm has a touch that is quite normal. Scores of doctors have already sought permission to see her. The history of her case is well known to the profession.
“The Rev. A. J. Waldron, vicar of the adjoining parish of St. Matthew’s, Brixton, visited her yesterday and is making arrangements to have her moved at once to a nursing home, where she can have privacy and quiet, with country air.
“Miss Kerin has no hectic flush, and declared yesterday that she did not feel a bit tired. But there is little doubt she requires careful supervision to prevent any relapse.”
I am informed by her brother, Mr. G. Kerin, that during her illness, and especially during the later stages, when her normal faculties showed signs of decline, that Miss Kerin developed some super-normal powers. She was able, for instance, to give an accurate account of incidents happening in connection with her brother while at a distance from home. The greatest care had to be observed by those in the house when speaking of her, as she could always hear what was said in another room, although she appeared deaf to those who spoke aloud in her presence. There is, in fact, evidence that she developed the telesthesic sense during the later stages of her illness, but also that she lost this faculty just before her recovery.
Dr. Forbes Winslow was of opinion that the cure was due to auto-suggestion. It appears to me a singular conclusion. One can understand neurasthenia, paralysis and other nervous disorders being amenable to auto-suggestion, and in fact these are the cases which most readily respond to such action. But that a young girl whose mind is perfectly resigned to what she believes to be a mortal disease, and even suffering gladly the inscrutable ordinances of a beneficent Providence, should after five years of such suffering suddenly auto-suggest that there is no organic disease in her body and that she was never better in her life, seems to me to invest the term “auto-suggestion” with a meaning and significance it has never yet held. We have to remember that here there is the certified presence of a virulent organic disease with concomitant functional disorders. Can Dr. Winslow advance other instances of voluntary auto-suggestion which have instantly cured morbid diseases? Yet we are asked to believe that the girl auto-suggested an angelic presence, a voice that spoke to her, hands that touched her, and the surpassing miracle of instant destruction in her body of all disease germs, the restoration of all functional powers and the entire clearing of the system of effete tissues. Then why did she not do so five years earlier, before her forces had been undermined by a wasting disease, and when the will-to-be was stronger in her than it can possibly have been at the last hour? We shall soon be asked to believe that Miss Kerin auto-suggested the disease itself. Another instance of your scientific mind, which lacks the humility necessary to say: “I do not know,” and plunges into the most absurd speculations to explain what it does not understand. The mental attitude of that atheist who bowed his head and wept in the presence of the Unknown commands our instant respect and approval, but this foolish theorizing by reputable men of science is only pitiable. And theories in regard to this particular case are not lacking, for we have in turn hypnotic suggestion (the hypnotizer being unnamed because non-existent), collective mental therapeutic action, answer to prayer, and spirit-healing.
As to collective mental therapy, the same objection is raised as in the case of auto-suggestion. If operative at all in a case of organic disease, it would be more readily efficacious in the early stages, when supported by a reasonable expectancy, than at the last, when all hope had been abandoned. It is true that for some five years prayer had been consistently made on behalf of the patient, and we have certainly no means of proving that this sustained effort was not instrumental in the recovery. But we do know that no mention was made of it by the angelic visitor. The Presence did not say: “We have heard the prayers of the people,” or that it came in answer to prayer. The theory of spirit-healing is by far the most reasonable explanation. It accounts for the facts without, however, explaining the means by which the cure was effected.
That it is a perfect instance of organic metabolism everybody must admit. Exactly similar cases are difficult to find, and in effect Dr. Ash, who undertook the study of the case after the cure had been performed, is thereby able to give us a most interesting account of what he regards as a unique medical experience. The Lourdes miracles are, as far as I know, all of a nervous character. They pertain to cases where functional disorders arise from nervous corrosion without lesion. Even where there is lesion there may come a time when nervous contact is complete and an instantaneous cure is possible. But in the present case we have deep-seated organic disease of a chronic nature, the existence of morbid tissue and whole tracts of the lungs ruined by the action of noxious germs. So far as our experience goes it would seem that the term “miraculous intervention” fits this case as well as any other that can be offered, and certainly better than many that have been applied to it. It is an old and well-worn term, of a sort to vex the scoffer, but when it comes to a matter of sticking on labels to cover our ignorance of methods, we can at least count upon the willing aid of modern science.
For a categorical statement of this case by an independent medical observer I refer the reader to Faith and Suggestion, by Dr. E. L. Ash, and to the précis of that book by the editor of the Occult Review, July 1912.
CHAPTER IV
THERAPY—ANCIENT AND MODERN
In old times, when the teachings of Hippocrates were more in vogue than at this date, when Aristotle and Galen and Ibn Sina and Paracelsus made their contributions to contemporary medical science, it was the custom to regard man in terms of the cosmos. They classified all disorders in a comprehensive manner as accidental or incidental, as acute or chronic, as functional or organic. The functional powers were governed by the Moon, the organic constitution by the Sun. Accidental and acute ailments were ascribed to the action of Mars, incidental and chronic disorders to Saturn. Mars was responsible for all inflammatory action and fevers, while Saturn was the cause of all morbid diseases and loss of vitality. It was only a question of the distribution of the vital principle in man, and this, originating in the Sun and regulated by the Moon, induced fevers when in excess and morbid disease when deficient in any organ of the body. Jupiter was the great healer and arbiter of destiny, and it was his aid that the physician invoked when at the head of his prescription he wrote the symbol ℞—Help, O Jupiter!
This ancient custom, together with many of the terms of ancient usage, is retained by modern physicians, many of whom see no more in it than the letter R, the initial of the word Recipe. But we still speak of chronic diseases, while tracing nothing to the action of Kronos (Saturn). We own to a solar plexus and a semilunar ganglion, and there are many other terms which have survived the practice of putting new names to old facts when some new function or structural peculiarity comes under modern observation. Had the ancients known of the existence of Uranus they would have had a potent cause for paralysis, nervous lesion and similar disturbances of the organism, while in Neptune they would have found the cause of anæmia, consumption and wasting decline, and possibly of neurasthenia and the various effects of nervous depletion.
But who shall say, without making trial of the matter, that the ancients were at fault in regarding man as embodied cosmos, a compound of the free elements in the universe about him, or wrong in interpreting his various disorders in terms of the stellar ambient? It is, at all events, just worth notice that at the birth of Miss Dorothy Kerin, on the 28th November, 1890, the Sun, Venus and Mercury were in quadrature to Saturn and in opposition to Neptune, while on the 18th February, 1912, Jupiter was in the 13th degree of Sagittarius, the very degree of the zodiac that was rising at her birth. The odds against this coincidence are 4,319 to 1. If it were a solitary example of what is said to be the beneficent influence of Jupiter in the saving of life it would not be so significant, but from the array of evidence accumulated by modern observations and retrogressive calculation, it is quite clear that the ancients were justified in their ascriptions in the case of Jupiter. Possibly it is not to the planetary orb itself but to the cosmic synthesis represented by it in our physical and mental constitution that appeal is made. Be that as it may, and while asserting the fact of planetary influence in human life without fear of contradiction I am not in a position to dogmatize as to the modus operandi, it is yet evident that there is a concert of action between the various cosmic centres and their corresponding principles in ourselves, such as to uphold the theosophic concept of man as Microcosmos.
I have just been speaking of cancer as a morbid disease. It was known to the ancients and by them named after that sign of the zodiac which responds to the zone most frequently affected by the disease, namely, the breast and stomach. It has already been shown that Saturn was accounted the chief cause of disease. Napoleon Buonaparte died of cancer, and at his birth we find Saturn in the sign Cancer in opposition to the Moon. On the principle that one swallow does not make a summer, I leave the observation for what it may be worth, but it is satisfactory if we can recognize a swallow when we see it. We are on the way to distinguish between martins and swifts, and between house and sand martins, and thus forefended from building our house upon the sand. For although Occultism deals with an order of facts outside the normal range of orthodox science its methods are equally scientific, both analytical and constructive. If we take the horoscopes of a number of persons whose fatal illness was of the same nature and compare them, we shall find a factor that is common to them all. The existence of this factor in the horoscope of a living person is a presumptive argument for “tendency” to the same disease. If in event that person develops the particular malady indicated by the horoscope, we have at once a scientific basis for a system of astro-therapy and a valid means of prognosis.
Assuming that the astrologers have been as busy in their special department of research as have the representatives of other branches of learning in theirs, it may reasonably be expected that with an equal body of tradition behind them and an equal field of experimental research before them, they have arrived at conclusions of which they are as sure as any scientific man can be in regard to any matter. To ignore their statements or to disparage them without test appears to me to be wholly prejudicial to the interests of truth and most likely to reflect upon the scientific integrity of those who pursue either course, for as the old philosopher says: “Where confidence is lacking it is not met by trust.”
In regard to the faculty of auto-suggestion in connection with psychotherapy; it has been suggested that this faculty depends on the activity of the subconscious sphere of the mind. It is seen that all action is either purposive or automatic. All purposive action tends to become habitual, and to the extent that it becomes so, it passes from the region of mind-control into the subconscious region where it is capable of itself controlling the mind. We then recognize what is called the “force of habit.” But it is further suggested that the activity of the subconscious part of the mind-sphere is at its maximum when we are asleep, whether natural or hypnotic. Certainly it is a fact that at a particular stage in hypnosis the subject passes out of the power of the hypnotist to control and assumes an activity of mental function which is remarkable both as to range and precision. But the facts seem to suggest something more than mere automatism, for while the patient remains subject to suggestion there is evidence of something more than the discharge of accumulated impressions. The subject is not found to be blundering about in the lumber-room of the mind, searching for odd bits of stuff that will answer the purpose in view, but is seen to exhibit direct perception of things as they are, the power to traverse space and to annihilate time, and to come into voluntary and conscious relations with the past and the future as if they coexisted and had a present reality. Many cases are on record. A single well-attested case would have sufficed.
These facts have given us grounds for establishing a theory of psychism very closely akin to the teaching of the Occultists. It is that the mind-sphere or soul is divided into two hemispheres, one of which is on the level of normal consciousness and the other below it. The nous or mind is then seen to be energized from above by the pneuma through inspiration, and from below by the psyche through instinct. Intuition and instinct, or inspiration and passion, are thus at opposite poles of the mind-sphere, and appeal can be made to either by suggestion through the sphere of the mind. We trace these opposite aspects of the mind in the Oversoul and the animal soul of the mystical schools, the augoeides and antinous of the earlier teaching. In the Yoga system they are the Buddhic and Kamic principles, the centres of spiritual knowledge and of animal desires respectively, the process of Yoga being to bring these opposite poles of our nature into active accord.
There are on record a fairly large number of instances in which it appears that either one’s subliminal consciousness or an extraneous intelligence affords prescience of things in which one is not particularly interested and for which there is no special call. Persons have thus been given the winning numbers in lotteries without, at the same time, being given the means of participating in the benefits attaching thereto. An instance quite pertinent to the general accusation of futility lodged against this class of intelligence came to my notice on the 2nd of April, 1912. A lady, on awaking that morning, exclaimed, “Number twenty-nine will win!” Asked as to whether it was a number in a lottery she at once replied: “No, it’s a horse.” Some cudgelling of brains failed to suggest any means by which the information could be applied. The problem was, however, successfully solved by a twelve-year-old girl who took the morning paper in hand, counted from the first name of the opening event in the programme for the day, exhausted the names in that event and continued into the second event until she arrived at number 29, against which was the name “Primrose Morn.” Obviously it had no connection with the 2nd of April, but on reflection it was remembered that the lady was born, on the 29th of the month and was engaged to be married on Primrose Morn. Immediately below this name in the list of competitors was “Marie’s Choice,” and the lady’s name is Marie. The coincidence was completed by the winning of the Bestwood Park Plate by “Primrose Morn.” Reference to the morning papers of the 2nd of April last will enable the reader to check this statement. The rising and bursting of these bubbles of subconscious activity appear to be quite automatic and in most instances without purpose or utility. They serve, however, to demonstrate the fact that there is such a source of inspiration, a submerged selfhood in touch with the anima mundi or world-soul, upon which we can at all times call for information and aid. The purpose of Occultism is to put us in the way of doing this when and as we please. From the point of view of the world-soul, the future and the past are coexistent. Every race is already run, every event is historical. This gives a new and a higher meaning to the old saying: The future is only the past unfolded. As the old Philosopher says: Tsae yin jo fang—all truth is paradoxical.
Another interesting feature of the psychic principle in us is that of the projection of the ethereal double or wraith. It is recorded of Goethe that he had a vision of himself, or rather of his double, on more than one occasion. It is well known that he had the faculty of exteriorization of thought, the projecting of visible thought-forms, in a remarkable degree. This faculty of Kriyas’akti is cultivated by the yogis of India, and forms an important feature in all occult training. The poet Shelley frequently effected “exteriorization” and was seen by Byron and Trelawney and by his wife on more than one occasion to be visibly present when it was certain that he was some distance away from the scene. Many such cases are on record and will be found included in Real Ghost Stories, and More Ghost Stories, published by the late William T. Stead. I know a yogi in India who has been certified to be visibly present in four places at the same time. Even allowing for slight errors of observation in regard to time, the fact is remarkable, especially as there had been no suggestion of pre-arrangement. The theory of “expectancy” would not therefore cover the ground.
A correspondent sends me the following certified experiences of psychic self-projection—
“I intended visiting a great friend (who is psychic when I am with her), twenty-five miles away, from Saturday to Monday. On the previous Tuesday night I could not sleep at all; still wide awake at 3 a.m. I suddenly thought of Miss H——, and instantly was in her dining-room, in thought, saw vividly furniture, etc., and felt beside me her dear dead mother (my friend). I thought we both went upstairs together to the ‘spare room’ I usually occupy when visiting. We went into the room, and I walked straight to the window, held the curtains back with my hands and looked out, then, turned and looked at the bed, surprised to find Miss H—— in it, instead of her own room; turned to the door and came out of my ‘brown study’ to find myself in my own bed at home.
“When I visited her on Saturday she said: ‘About 3 a.m. last Tuesday I wished you in your own home; I slept in the spare room that night for a change, and could not sleep; I felt you and my mother were downstairs, and distinctly saw you both come into the room. You went straight to the window, parted the curtains with your hands, and looked out, then turned your head and looked surprised to see me in the bed and walked out of the room.’”
Now, I had said nothing about my “psychic visit.” Yet in every detail it was authenticated at the other end!
One night I dreamed I felt nervous (it was a brilliant moonlit night), and that I would go into the next room and see if M—— was awake for company. I went in my nightdress, barefooted, and distinctly shivered with cold. I found M—— sound asleep, so did not awaken her. Wondering what time it might be, I walked to the mantelpiece, where she keeps her little clock; it was not there, but on a chair near the bed. I made out fifteen minutes past something, but the moon was not now so brilliant I thought. Then feeling very chilly, I dreamed I returned to my bed. I awoke with a shock (the shock of returning to my body?) feeling sure I had been there. My watch pointed to 4.15. My body was perfectly warm, so it could not have been sleep-walking; it was very frosty. Next morning at breakfast I said: “Where do you keep your little clock?”
M—— said: “Usually on the mantelpiece, but it is a good way from the bed these frosty mornings, so last night I put it on a chair near my bed-head.”
She also said: “I had a curious feeling when I awoke this morning that your presence had been in my room during the night.”
These experiences undoubtedly show the power of the human mind to take form and to effect visible self-presentation at a distance. It is presumptive evidence for the existence of a mind-form or karana-sharira, which if temporarily separable from the physical centres of consciousness, may be so separated permanently at the moment of death, and thus assume independent and conscious existence in a world inhering in its consciousness. While affording a priori argument in favour of a reasonable belief in post-mortem existence, it does not prove immortality. The two cases stand upon entirely different grounds and require distinctive evidence. I know that after the butterfly has emerged from the chrysalis it has independent existence and that it is neither grub nor chrysalis, but a potentiality that has become realized in a new order of being. But I also know that the butterfly comes to an end. Our problem is concerned with the soul of the butterfly and what becomes of it thereafter. The case is not identical but merely analogous. The human evolution is presumably a good many stages beyond that of the lepidoptera.
Yet I find it quite the usual thing, especially among Spiritualists, to regard evidence of post-mortem existence as equivalent to evidence for immortality. Occultism, in common with all the great Religions, teaches that post-mortem existence is natural and imperative, while immortality is spiritual and conditional. If the shell of a nut be broken the kernel will continue to exist as nut for a considerable time. It is thus with the psychoplasm after separation from the physical body or shell. It is said of those who have attained: These are they over whom the second death hath no power. The tendency to regard all that is not physical as being spiritual in its nature and constitution, is one of the greatest fallacies to which modern interpreters of psychic phenomena have contributed. A change in the sphere of activity does not involve change of character, nor does it determine the degree of spiritual consciousness of the individual. That is a matter of evolution, of knowledge and devotion. The confessed ignorance of discarnate intelligences upon matters mundane and spiritual is sufficient evidence of this fact.
CHAPTER V
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM
There is one star above all others which periodically sheds its light upon the world, but about which very little is known, and on the occult significance of which little or no light has been hitherto shed. I refer to what is popularly, and as I shall show, correctly known as the Star of Bethlehem.
I propose to bring the facts into review with the intention of finally establishing the place of this star in cosmical symbology, and also of showing its connection with the central fact of the Christian religion—the Nativity.
The Star is due to make its appearance during the present century, but at what precise date cannot be determined, owing to lack of data. It was seen in the year 945, again in 1264, and by Tycho in 1572, and after becoming visible in the daytime, so great was its lustre, it gradually faded away and disappeared. Sir J. Herschel thought from these facts, that it would reappear in 1872, but such was not the case. The appearance of a large luminous star in Perseus at the beginning of this century led to the belief that it was the long-expected visitant. The body, which was named Nova Persei, was eventually considered by astronomers to be a centre of disruption, on account of its sudden flaring up and disappearance. It may have been this or a collision of two telescopic stars. Tycho tells us that the Star gradually grew in luminosity until it outshone Sirius and even Venus, and as gradually disappeared. This seems to suggest a star of great eccentricity and vast orbit, whose major axis is at right angles to the sphere of visibility, so that it appears to us “end on.” It would thus grow and gradually disappear, without any sensible alteration of its position in the heavens, as here depicted—
Figure 1.
It is of interest to note that mythology connects the Star with Cassiopeia, Andromeda her daughter, and Perseus the husband of Andromeda. These three constellations are in close proximity to one another in the heavens; together with Cepheus, the husband of Cassiopeia and father of Andromeda.
The Star appeared above “the head of Andromeda,” according to Tycho, which would give it about 32° of N. declination, and thus make its appearance vertical to the latitude of Bethlehem in Judea. The sign of the zodiac coinciding with its longitude would thus be Aries, which according to Ptolemy rules over Judea. It is the Oriental sign and stands in relation to the cardinal points thus—
Figure 2.
This observation satisfies the requirements of that passage where the Magi are reported to have said: “We have seen his Star in the East, and have come to worship Him.” Then if a geographical quarter was referred to by “the East,” why should they travel westward from Persia to Judea? Obviously they referred to the quarter of the Heavens, and, being Astrologers, would well know that Judea was signified by Aries, in which sign the Star made its appearance. Its “standing over the house where the child lay,” indicates its position in the zenith of Bethlehem at the time of its southing, the latitude of Bethlehem being 31° 43´ N. in agreement with the observed position of the Star in Tycho’s day.
Now regarding the year of the Nativity, we know that it was in the same year as the death of Herod. This event can be fixed. Josephus, in his Antiquities, lib. xvii, mentions an eclipse that took place on the night preceding one of the fasts, and which was immediately followed by the last illness of Herod. We know from the same source that Herod reigned thirty-four years after the death of Antipater, and thirty-seven from the beginning of his reign. The date is further fixed by the statement that this latter event took place in the 184th Olympiad, and we hence get the year of Rome 714 or 39 B.C., and the year of the eclipse would therefore be 3 B.C. The same author says that after mourning Herod for seven days, the feast of the Passover was approaching, and as this was always held on the 14th of Abib or Nisan, which is the first full Moon after the Equinox, we are able to confirm the date as the 13th March. At this date it is found that there is a considerable eclipse of the Moon as shown by the following calculation (see p. [48]).
The Sun being 7° 34´ from the Node, the extent of the eclipse would be nearly five digits, and the Moon would be about two-thirds down the western sky and in the south-west quarter of the heavens. It is of interest also to note that the Moon was eclipsed in the sign Virgo, which the ancients say rules Jerusalem, where Herod the Tetrarch died.
In the R.C. Festes we are told that the death of Herod took place before the Passover and after the eclipse of 13th March, so that the date appears to be very well established.
Eclipse of the Moon, March 13, 3 B.C. (astron.)
From Epoch New Moon March 1797
| March | Sun-Node | Moon’s Anom. | Sun’s Anom. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D. H. M. | s. °. . | s. °. ’. | s. °. ’. | |
| 1797 | 16 9 12 | 9 9 10 | 2 12 39 | 8 26 26 |
| ½ lun. | 14 18 22 | 0 15 20 | 6 12 54 | 0 14 33 |
| ———————— | ——————— | ——————— | ——————— | |
| 31 3 34 | 9 24 30 | 8 25 33 | 9 10 59 | |
| ———————— | ——————— | ——————— | ——————— | |
| 1800—) | 19 0 32 | 9 18 59 | 7 17 19 | 0 1 31 |
| ———————— | ——————— | ——————— | ——————— | |
| Equats. | 12 3 2 | 0 5 31 | 1 8 14 | 9 9 28 |
| a | +4 6 | +2 3 | 1 34 | |
| ——————— | ——————— | |||
| A+a | -1 | 0 7 34 | 1 9 48 | |
| A-a | +2 | |||
| A¹ | +6 37 | |||
| ———————— | ||||
| 12 13 46 |
i.e., March 13, at 4.46 a.m. G.M.T.
E. long. 2.22 Jerusalem.
————
4. 8 a.m.
Luke also gives confirmatory evidence, and the account is very circumstantial. The Evangelist mentions Tiberius Cæsar by name, and also the Governors of the Provinces, as well as many dates. From him we learn that the Mother had good reason to be in or near Bethlehem at that time, because there was a registration or census under Augustus which was fixed for the First of Tishri, when the Jewish civil year commenced. In the same month was the feast of Tabernacles, an additional reason for the journey. Bethlehem was their objective, “because they were of the house and lineage of David,” who was born at Bethlehem. Now the 1st Tishri would fall in that year on 19th September. At this time there would be “shepherds abiding in the fields by night,” that being the hot season. The 25th December is, of course, an impossible date.
I now take my cue from the Apocalypse: “A woman clothed with the Sun and the Moon under her feet. And she brought forth the Man-child who should rule the nations with a rod of iron.”
The Sun in the middle of the sign Virgo is the woman clothed with the Sun. To be “clothed” with the solar rays the luminary must be in the middle of the sign and neither just entering it nor just leaving it. The “Moon under its feet” signifies a full Moon, when the lunar orb was in the opposite point of the zodiac, namely, the middle of Pisces. “A rod of iron” indicates that the Man-child was born under the planet Mars, i. e. under the rising of the sign ascribed to the government of that planet. We have to construct a horoscope which, while in actual accord with astronomical facts, exhibits these features.
We have already seen that the full Moon of March fell on the 13th, and if to this we add the values for six lunations, we shall have the full Moon of September in the year 4 B.C., thus—
| D. H. M. | s. °. . | s. °. ’. | s. °. ’. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | 12 3 2 | 0 5 31 | 1 8 14 | 9 9 28 |
| 6 luns. | 177 4 24 | 6 4 1 | 5 4 54 | 5 24 38 |
| ———————— | ——————— | —————— | ——————— | |
| 189 7 26 | 6 9 32 | 6 13 8 | 3 4 6 | |
| 2 4 | -1 35 | Sun’s | ||
| Anomaly. | ||||
| ——————— | ——————— | |||
| A+a | -1 | 6 11 36 | 6 11 33 | |
| A-A | +2 | Sun from | Moon’s | |
| A’ | -1 50 | Node. | Anomaly. | |
| ———————— | ||||
| 189 5 37 | ||||
or Sept. 5, at 5.37 p.m. G.M.T.
This is equal to 7.58 p.m. at Jerusalem, and the position of the Sun informs us that there was an eclipse of the Moon of about 4½ digits. The Sun would be in the middle of Virgo, and hence the woman would be literally “clothed with the Sun.”
Virgo, being the birth-sign, or that which the Sun occupied, it comes to be associated symbolically with Bethlehem, or Beit-lachm, i. e. the House of Bread, for Virgo is none other than Ceres, the goddess of the harvest of cereals, and is associated with Isis by the Egyptians, as Leo with Osiris and Aries with Horus.
This Horus is the Man-child, ruled by Mars or Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and iron, the husband of Venus or Aphrodite.
Astrologically Mars is associated with the sign Aries, and under the rising of this sign the Nativity would take place, and with Aries rising the Sun would be below the western horizon and in opposition to the eclipsed Moon, the latter being conjoined with Uranus in Pisces, and the sign Aries with the constellation Andromeda, and the Star of Bethlehem in the orient. Saturn and Jupiter were then in close conjunction in the beginning of the sign Taurus, Mars just entered, into Leo, Mercury towards the end of that sign, Venus setting as an “evening star” in Libra 22°, and Neptune in the sign Scorpio.
Here we find Mars, the ruling planet in the sign Leo, ruling Judah, hence Jesus is referred to as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The prophecy of Jacob was that Judah should be as a lion crouching down. “A sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a law-giver (Cepheus) from between his feet, until Shuleh come.” This Shuleh is the name of the star Cor Scorpio on whose rising Leo declines from the position of meridian power. It is in accord with the universal symbology that here in the sign Scorpio we find the planet Neptune in the 8th division of the heavens, signifying “betrayal unto death.” The Moon, ruler of the 4th House, conjoined with Uranus in the 12th House, in opposition to the Sun is an additional indication of an untimely end, and that on account of secret enmity. The sign Scorpio is associated with the principle of evil and is called the accursed sign. The tribe of Dan, to whose lot this division fell, substituted the symbol of its antiscion, Aquila, the eagle, on that account. Among the disciples it was connected with Judas Iscariot.
The Pascal full Moon of A.D. 33 fell on 3rd April at 2° 55´ G.M.T., the Sun being about 6½° from the Node. The time at Jerusalem was 5.16 p.m.—“about the sixth hour.” The Sun was then close to the Star in Aries, known as Alnatha, i.e. “the slain lamb.”
The universality of this incarnation has been frequently commented upon. The cosmical Man has employed the symbolism of the whole of the solar system as known to the ancients. Thus we have him referred to as—
Saturn—“A man of sorrows.”
Jupiter—“The Sun of Righteousness,” and a “priest after the order of Melchizedek,” i. e. the King of Righteousness.
Mars—The sword bearer, “I came not to bring peace but a sword.”
Sun—“The Day-star from on high.”
Venus—“The Prince of Peace.”
Mercury—“The Word,” “The Messenger.”
Earth—“Son of Man,” i. e. Adam—Earth.
Jesus the Prophet and Master of Wisdom is of the order of those “whose goings forth are from of old.” Some have seen in Him the reincarnation of the Buddha, whose ethical doctrine is strongly akin to the teachings of the holy Nazarene.
But there are strong reasons in the astrological scheme here presented, to warrant all Occultists in accepting the Incarnation in a sense other than symbolical or mythological. The prophecies and the record agree with the astronomical facts. Jesus is called especially “the Lamb of God,” and is born under the rising of the sign Aries. He is called also the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah,” and Mars, the ruler of the horoscope, is found in Leo. He is called “the Virgin-born,” and we find the Sun at the Nativity in the sign of the Virgin. These positions are not accidental, but are in agreement with the particular state of the visible heavens at the epoch to which we are impelled by reference to the facts of the case in conformity with the historical record.
We have, I think, specific evidence of the Incarnation—of what? Of the Christ, the Logos, the Word. Jesus the man, whose horoscope we have been tracing, is not to be confounded with the Christ principle investing that Personality, nor yet with the Spirit of God animating the Christ. The relationship of these are apparently as Spirit, Soul and Body to one another, that is—
Spirit = God.
Soul = Christ.
Body = Jesus.
This order seems to be supported by the earliest statements of the Christian faith. The Master-Soul speaking through the person of Jesus said: “These things I do not of myself but of the Spirit of God which dwelleth in me,” and again, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” Further, the Master in bidding farewell to His disciples said, “I go unto my Father and your Father, unto my God and your God.” It is clear, therefore, in what relations the incarnate Christ stood to humanity and to God. Other masters have appeared at various times as manifestations of the Spirit of Truth, Bodhisattvas as they are called in India, and are seen to be the founders of schools of religious thought in all parts of the world. They all answer to the universal paradigm, and consequently we find the same myths and legends centring in them. Occasionally we get specific record of the birth of these Great Souls. Thus we know that Confucius (Kong-fu-tze) was born 550 B.C. on the 27th day of the 10th month, and died on the 18th day of the 2nd month in the year 477 B.C., at the age of seventy-three years. The birth of Gautama Sakyamuni is vaguely indicated as having taken place at the full Moon of Jyestha. So far no records have been discovered to throw light upon the year of birth, so that we cannot determine the cosmic relations of this great luminary. The birth of Sri S’ankarāchārya, however, is specifically indicated in a stanza of Yidyāranya, where it is said that the Sun, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars were all in their exaltation signs, that is to say, in Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn respectively; and in Kendra, i. e. in signs that were upon the angles of the horoscope. This is the ideal horoscope of the successful reformer, and this Confucius of India, who began his crusade at twenty years of age, has left his mark for all time upon Indian thought and literature.
Wherever we can obtain the time of the incarnation of these Great Souls, it is seen that either there are some special celestial portents attending them or the planetary positions are such as to stamp the horoscope at once as that of an epoch-making birth. The portents attending the birth of Romulus, as recited by Dionysius, are no less striking than those which signalized his death. Something of this sort was obviously the belief in Shakespeare’s time concerning the death of great men—
When beggars die there are no comets seen,
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of Princes.
From this we may conclude that the gods are not democratic, but favour individualism of the most pronounced type; and if, as would seem to be the case, the whole trend of evolution is the specialization of faculty, the elaboration of the unit from the mass, we can readily understand why specially selected cosmical conditions attend the incarnation of highly-evolved souls.
CHAPTER VI
COSMIC SYMBOLOGY
A consideration of great astronomical epochs naturally leads to the more comprehensive subject of Periodicity and the Law of Cycles. Some notes in my former works have raised special points of inquiry which may very well be dealt with in the present chapter.
What is known as the Great Year of Plato is one of those occult statements which seem to point to the existence among Initiates of some degree of special knowledge in cosmical facts. The observation of the Precession of the Equinoxes is usually ascribed to Hipparchus, who lived in the Second Century B.C. By comparison of the star positions in his day with those of Timocharis a century earlier, it was found that while maintaining their relative distances from one another and from the ecliptic, the stars had altered their positions in regard to the equinox, and a rough calculation showed that they were moving at the rate of about 50´´ per year. Observations of particular stars, while confirming the fact of their change of longitude, did not yield uniform results, and this no doubt was due to the imperfection of the instruments employed. Thus in regard to the star Spica Virginis we have the following observations of its longitude at various dates by independent authorities—
Timocharis, B.C. 293, Spica observed in Virgo, 22° 20´
Hipparchus, ” 145, ” ” ” 24° 20´
Menelaus, A.D. 99, ” ” ” 26° 15´
Ptolemy, ” 139, ” ” ” 26° 30´
Copernicus, ” 1515, ” ” Libra, 17° 14´
” ” 1525, ” ” ” 17° 21´
Naut. Al., ” 1820, ” ” ” 21° 20´
Thus while the fact of Precession is very clearly defined by these observations, the amount of it is not accurately determined. Later observations with more perfect means of measurement have enabled the official astronomers to give a true value to the Precession of the Equinoxes, which is 50·2453´´ plus O·0002225´´ t where t is the number of years from 1850. Thus while Hipparchus and Ptolemy found it to be 1° in 100 years, Albatani found it to be only 1° in 66 years, and modern observations seem to point the fact that it has been accelerated up to our own time. By taking a mean of all observations during the last eighteen centuries, the amount appears to be 50·062´´ and by extending the observations we can work it down to 50´´ nearly. Now if we divide the circle of the zodiac, or 360° by 50´´ we shall arrive at the figures 25,920 comprised in the Great Year. There are two theories in existence as to the cause of this Precession. At the point of time when the Sun crosses the Equator and comes to the first point of Aries, let the Sun be in line with a star in the heavens. When the Sun returns to the same position on the Equator it is found not to be in line with that star but 50´´ in advance of it. The first theory is that this is due to the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic, or, what is the same thing, in the inclination of the earth’s axis to the plane of the ecliptic, a change caused by the action of the Moon and Sun on the equatorial bulge. The whole effect is taken to be about 50´´ as said, and of this 35´´ is due to the Moon and 15´´ to the Sun. Various observations have shown this change of axial inclination to be about 50´´ per century, or one one-hundredth part of the Precession of the Equinoxes. Of this I shall have something to say later. For the moment we may consider it as part of the theory of Precession. The other theory is that Precession is caused by the proper motion of the Sun through space, whereby it completes an arc of 50´´ of its vast orbit every year. Then the gradual increase of the Precession already noted would in terms of this theory be due to the fact that the earth is getting nearer to the Sun and consequently the angle of parallax would be greater. Here we may leave the theorists with their own material and turn to the significance of this Great Year.
As the whole Year consists of 25,920, during which the Equinoxes precess an entire circle, there will be a period of 2160 occupied in traversing one sign, that is to say, a twelfth part of the circle. Now this period is 72 periods of the planet Saturn, otherwise known as Kronos, the god of Time. From this again we derive the foundation of the great Yugas or Ages known to the Indians and referred to in the Vishnu Purana as the Four Ages, Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. They correspond with the four ages known as the Gold, Silver, Copper and Iron ages. Thus—
72 × 6 equals 432 multiplied by 1000 = 432,000 years.
72 × 12 ” 864 ” ” = 864,000 ”
72 × 18 ” 1296 ” ” = 1,296,000 ”
72 × 24 ” 1780 ” ” = 1,728,000 ”
————-
Total number of years in the Maha-yuga, 4,320,000 years.
At present the Vernal Equinox is at the very end of the constellation Aquarius, and there was a time when the equinox fell in the middle of Taurus, and the solstices in the middle of Leo and Aquarius respectively. Thus we find Varaha Mihira, an Indian astronomer of the fifth century, stating that in his day the solstices fell in Katakam (Cancer), and Makaram (Capricornus), but that according to former shastras they were once in the middle of Aslesha (Leo) and Kumbha (Aquarius) respectively. This tells us that some two thousand years before Mihira’s time there were Indian observations which determined the positions of the solstices among the asterisms, and it cannot have failed to strike Mihira that there was such a fact as Precession, even supposing that he had no knowledge of it from the Greek and Egyptian astronomers. It was about this time, namely 2000 B.C., that the Babylonian empire was at its height, and accordingly we find the astronomical facts written in all their records and built into their architecture. We find it in the Assyrian Bull and in the Egyptian Sphinx, wherein the four constellations which then held the cardinal points are found to be compounded. They comprise Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion, Aquarius the Man, and Scorpio (Aquila) the Eagle.
In connection with the position of the Vernal Equinox in the constellations, there are a number of very interesting myths and symbols which form an essential part of Occultism. We find, for instance, that at the time when the equinox was in the constellation Taurus the worship of the Bull as a symbol was closely associated with the Spring festivals. The Egyptians at this time decked a white Bull with garlands of flowers and set a golden discus between his horns to represent the entry of the Sun into the constellation of the Bull. Later, when the signs of the zodiac became confused with the constellations by the fact of their coincidence, the same myths and ceremonies were transferred to the signs, and remained associated with them in the popular use. Hence the May Day festival, which had its origin with the Sun in the constellation Taurus at the Vernal Equinox, came to be associated with the entry of the Sun into the sign Taurus in the month of May.
History brings to us a curious confirmation of the astronomical basis of the Bull ceremonials. The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is stated to have taken place in 1491 B.C. Now we have already seen that Mihira, the Indian astronomer, noted the Vernal Equinox at his time to have been coincident with the first point of the constellation Mesham (Aries), and, as his date is fixed by calculation to have been A.D. 536, the interval would consequently be 1491 plus 536, or 2027 years. And if we multiply this by 50·1´´, the mean precession per year, we shall have as result 28° 12´ 35´´, which, added to the first point of Aries, takes us to the end of that constellation on to the verge of the constellation Taurus. Hence we conclude that about the time of the Exodus the Equinox was passing out of Taurus into Aries, and consequently we find the institution of the Jewish Passover (Pasach), to have been inaugurated by Moses who was “learned in all the lore and language of the Egyptians” and who, as the adopted son of the Egyptian Princess, would be initiated by the Priests of Isis into all the mysteries of the cosmos to which at that time they had access. When, therefore, the Israelites were found to be perpetuating the worship of the Golden Calf which they had witnessed in Egypt, the great Lawgiver admonished them, reduced their idol into an aurum potabile by his alchemical skill and gave it them to drink. Thereafter the symbol of the Ram became paramount in Israelitish worship. The Pasach or transit was none other than that of the Vernal Equinox from the constellation Taurus into Aries. Occultists have identified the sign Taurus with the age of the Patriarchs, the age of husbandry and the ascendancy in Egypt of the Hyksoi or Shepherd Kings. The age of Aries marks the cycle of militarism, extending to Assyria, Persia, Egypt and Greece, and culminating in the Roman Empire. Pisces marks the age of Combination, culminating in the federation of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The present-day transit into the constellation Aquarius is held to inaugurate the dawn of the age of Baptism, the pouring out of the Spirit of Truth upon all flesh, and the age will therefore be one of spiritual regeneration.
What are called the Four Fixed Signs of the zodiac, those which enter into the composition of the Sphinx, are found to be in the forefront of national symbolism among the ancient Chinese. The four cardinal constellations are associated with the four colours, black, red, white and blue. The constellation of the Lion was called by them “the Black Warrior,” Taurus was called “the Azure Dragon,” Scorpio the “White Tiger” and Aquarius “the Red Bird.” In the time of Wan Wang there was built a palace whose four walls were of these colours, and we find them represented in the heraldry of the Yellow Empire.
In both Egypt and Assyria we find the Bull used as a sacred symbol, even as it is to this day in India. There is a connection of a subtle nature between the Bull and the Bee—Apis. In the most ancient Mithraic monument of Assyria there is shown in bas-relief the figure of a lion out of whose mouth a bee is coming forth. This at once brings to mind the riddle of Samson, himself associated with the Solar myth. He is made to say: “Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong came forth sweetness.” And when they gave him the answer: “What is stronger than a lion, what is sweeter than honey?” the key to the symbology is supplied in his answering words: “If you had not ploughed with my oxen (Taurus), you had not found out my riddle.” Here there is an obvious association of the symbol of the Bull with that of the Bee, and it is here that we get the affiliation of the two signs Taurus and Leo. A lion trampling on a snake and a bull in the folds of a snake are to be found among the symbolical monuments of the past. The lion-headed man, Abraxas, is a symbol which links the sign Aquarius to that of Leo, and is of great antiquity: among the Persians we find this word Abraxas or Abracax engraved on magical stones. It stands for the 365 days of the year and the virtues corresponding to them.
But this Taurean key to the riddle of Samson is not merely a cosmical symbolism. It is also a spiritual one. For the four Fixed Signs of the zodiac stand for the basic elements or what are known as the Four States, and these in their turn have analogy with human principles. Thus—
Leo represents Fire, which stands for Spirit.
Aquarius ” Air ” ” Mind.
Scorpio ” Water ” ” Soul.
Taurus ” Earth ” ” Body.
In this paradigm we have Spirit above and Matter beneath, linked together by the Human Soul or Mind in relations with Spirit, and the Animal Soul in relations with Matter. The riddle of Samson therefore may be read kabalistically thus: Out of Spirit proceeded Matter, as from Fire the element of Earth was evolved. To which we may add the rider in corresponding terms: Save by incarnation you could not attain to spiritual liberation, which is equivalent to the saying: If you had not ploughed with my oxen, you had not found out my riddle. Here we have the process of differentiation covertly referred to by the propounder of the riddle, showing that Matter is the ultimate expression of Spirit, its negative pole. It stands for the female principle in Nature, and hence the tradition involves the woman who betrayed Samson’s secret. Thus in cosmical symbology some of the great secrets of cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis lie concealed. The ancient wisdom conceived the two schemes as involved in the complete arc of life, which holds good for any planet, and for the system to which it belongs.
The Four states of matter and their corresponding evolutes may be thus figured—
Figure 3.
In a subsequent section we may profitably consider the analogy existing between the cosmical and anthropological evolutions, and the consequent relations of the human soul with the planet to which it is related in the scheme of things.
CHAPTER VII
READING THE SYMBOLS
The possibility of a scientific foreknowledge of events has long engaged the minds of speculative thinkers. In properly informed minds it has assumed an actuality. The learned writer of The Story of the Heavens has given us a most interesting account of the manner in which the law of the Tides gradually came to be connected with the Moon, and how at length some astute observer formulated a scheme based on the Moon’s age, by which the time of high or low tide could be predicted. That was a case of scientific foreknowledge. When to the laws of Kepler, which gave a mathematical construction to the whole system of astronomy, Sir Isaac Newton contributed his great law of Gravitation, the coherence of the whole cosmical scheme was manifest. Kepler showed that planetary motions answered to the functions of the ellipse. Newton demonstrated the necessity of this cosmical fact. Herschel discovered the proper motion of the Sun in space and upset the whole scheme. Although answering to the functions of an ellipse, of which the stationary Sun occupied one of the foci, the necessary fact immediately assumed the less rigid form of relative fact, and the ellipse gave place to the cycloidal curve. A cycloidal curve is that described by any point on the tyre of a revolving wheel whose axle is progressing at the same time in a straight line. Let the Sun occupy the position of the axle, and let a planet be situate at the end of one of the spokes of the wheel upon the tyre. If the wheel be now moved forward it will be found that the Sun-point is moving in a straight line parallel to the ground on which the wheel rests, while the planet-point describes a series of arches. It never gets farther away from the centre to which it is united. The planet point, in fact, describes a segment of a circle the chord of which is equal to the circumference of the wheel. We are under no necessity of supposing that the Sun’s path in space is rectilinear. On the contrary, we have presumptive evidence that it is itself answering to the gravitational pull of some body in the remote confines of space and pursuing an orbital path.
Figure 4. Diagram showing the Cycloidal curve of a planet on a vector S´-C, where A, C, B are the tropics. Then the straight line S-S´´ is equal to 2(S´C) × 3·14159.
We are here dealing with a rigid vector, which is not the case as regards the planetary bodies. There is a difference in nature between the spoke of a wheel that holds the tyre to the hub and the force of gravity that holds a planet to the Sun.
Then our cycloidal curve falls of itself into the region of relativity. It would only be true if the Sun’s path in space were rectilinear, not otherwise.
Now we have got to our point where the elements of our system assume coherence only by their relativity. This fact is so well established that scientific prediction is a thing assured. Every year there is issued a volume of astronomical facts which antedate our calendar by some three or four years. I refer to the Nautical Almanac. In this volume we shall eventually find not only that the tides have been correctly predicted, but that every phase of the Moon is accurately stated, its orbit among the stars clearly defined; the times of its occulting or hiding the various stars that happen to lie in its course; the time, place and magnitudes of the various eclipses, and a host of other phenomena, are seen to have been foretold. This knowledge could not be otherwise derived than from an intelligent study of an intelligible cosmos, and a clear definition of the laws governing cosmical relations. Keep that in mind. We live in a world of relativity. What we call cosmic laws have only a relative value. The Ptolemaic system of epicycles was relatively true to the view of the universe which regarded the Earth as the centre of the system. It answered to all the phenomena. It had an integrity of its own. When the view-point was shifted so that the Sun came to be regarded as the centre of the system, then the epicycle no longer held good. But the elliptical theory of Kepler was only a relative truth. The planets do not really move in elliptical orbits. They only appear to do so from the point of view of a fixed central Sun. The theory, like that of Ptolemy, answers to the phenomena. The same can be shown in regard to the cycloidal system. In the astronomical text books it will be found that the Precession of the Equinoxes is ascribed to the change in the inclination of the earth’s axis caused by the attraction of the Moon and Sun, but principally of the Moon, on the equatorial bulge of the earth. The same text books will tell you that the Precession is found to be increasing, that the Moon is receding from the earth, and that the attraction of gravitation decreases as the square of the distance! All of which is a contradiction in terms.
But since we have arrived at the fact of relativity in regard to what we are used to calling astronomical “facts,” we may as well face the situation and accept the universe as symbol. Then all facts concerning it come to be regarded as merely symbolical, and it is our business to relate this universal symbology to the things of our consciousness and the facts of daily life.
Such a system was evolved ages ago by the philosophers of the East, in China, in India and in Chaldea. They called this system by the name of Astrology, that is, what we reason or discourse concerning the stars. They regarded the stars, not as bodies having a fixed quantitative relationship to the cosmos, but as symbols having a significance in our consciousness and a value in terms of experience. These values were doubtless assigned from observation. Human nature remaining very much the same throughout long ages, the symbolism thus instituted would have a more or less constant value. That is how we find it. What Saturn signified two thousand years ago it signifies to-day. It is an open question whether the planets have a causative relationship in regard to the affairs of human life. Before we can decide this point we have to prove our theory of gravitation, making of it an absolute instead of merely a relative fact. Then, if the planets interact one upon another, as what is called the “solidarity” of the system seems to require, we cannot very well escape from the logical consequences of our reasoning, and planetary action in human life must be a fact beyond controversy. But the planets may very well have a symbolical value as being part of the universal inscription, a feature in the great physiognomy. We may argue from this point of view with perfect safety. It is our business to study this physiognomy of Nature, to read the symbolism of the heavens in the same intelligent manner as we read the symbolism of the Earth. It may be said that the whole art of living consists in what the ancients called the “end-viewing perception,” seeing the end from the beginning, which is our modern “intelligent anticipation.” The Genesis account gives a symbolical value to the Sun, Moon and planets, when it says: Let them be for signs (Othoth), and this othic value was early discovered by the ancients and has held to this day.
There are various means of foreknowledge, but all cannot be called scientific, although they may be the subject of scientific scrutiny. Inspiration or revelation escape our apprehension. What we know as the gift of the Spirit does not lend itself to scientific empiricism. Direct perception, as in clairvoyance or seership, is allied to certain temperamental peculiarities which can be noted but barely accounted for. Mediumism and obsession may sometimes be the source of foreknowledge of events, and these are the legitimate subjects of study by psychologists. To these we may add the various forms of Automatism when applied to divination, and Numerology or Kabalism. The latter, while depending on an universal symbolism and the geometrical relations of thought, is somewhat distinct in that it lends itself to empirical test. Indeed, it may be said that all the foregoing methods of foreknowledge, except direct revelation, may be rendered scientific. That they are not yet so is due to our defect of knowledge concerning the nature and constitution of man.
In effect we make final reference to Astrology as the only means of scientific foreknowledge known to man, and in this we must include the physical phenomena which have direct relation to astronomical facts as well as anything we may argue concerning the action of the planets upon the minds of men and the disposition of human affairs. Astrology lends itself readily to experimental test. It does not necessarily assume a causative relationship between man and the various bodies of the solar system, but it is open to show that there is an actual relationship between the state of the heavens at the moment of a person’s birth into the world and the character and experience of that person through life. There is no need in this place to elaborate the argument. The facts are sufficiently well attested in the experience of all who have taken the trouble to apply the ordinary tests. As to character, Ptolemy affirms that Mercury is the indicator of the rational powers, the Moon of the natural powers. By the rational he means those that are peculiar to man, by the natural, those that are common to man and the lower animals. The distribution of the faculties and powers are thus symbolically located—
Figure 5.
There is an obvious consent here to the principles of modern Phrenology as enunciated by Dr. Bernard Hollander. It is seen that all the intellectual faculties, the perceptives, memories, the comparative and rational faculty, are under the sway of the planet Mercury. Jupiter governs the sympathetic faculties, intuitive perception, mirthfulness, wit, benevolence; Saturn the devotional faculties, wonder, sublimity, veneration; the Sun has rule over the governing group of faculties—firmness, conscientiousness, love of approbation, stability; Venus over the social group—friendship, inhabitiveness, constancy, etc.; the Moon over the natural faculties—vitativeness, amativeness, love of offspring, etc.; Mars over the faculties of defence and destruction; Uranus over the psychic faculties, and Neptune over the spiritual.
In Astrology the Sun is considered as the radiating centre of vital energy, and has relations with the heart and the solar plexus. The Moon is the distributor of this energy, and represents the element of variability, being allied to the sympathetic ganglion, and having relations with the fluidic body; it also is related to the spleen. The Sun and Moon acting together, as in the production of the tides, may be regarded as the generator and distributor of all astral influences. According to the positions of the planets at the moment of birth in regard to the luminaries, astrologers draw their conclusions regarding the constitution and functional powers of the individual. But there is also another most important local factor which plays a very significant part in the determination of personal powers.
If we take the vertical circle in the centre of which a birth takes place, we shall find that this prime vertical is divided into two parts by the meridian which cuts it at right angles, and again by the horizon at right angles to the meridian circle. These two great circles represent sensitive planes which are capable of responding to the astral vibrations in force at any time, the intensity of such vibrations being in direct proportion to the nearness of the planets to such planes. Hence it is found that planets which are exactly rising or setting, culminating or passing the lower meridian, have a very marked effect upon the character and destiny of the person so born. These are empirical observations. They can be tested, but, if tested, they must be so in strict accord with the canons of Astrology, which ascribe certain influences to each of the planets.
These great circles again constitute planes of direct and transverse polarity, and they are found to follow the principle of the segmentation of the cell. They serve a most important part in the determination of sex. But this is a long and intricate matter, and cannot be fully discussed in these pages.
Now, by tracing the effects upon health, character and fortunes produced (or indicated) by the transits of the planets over these sensitive planes, astrologers have been able to determine exactly what effects are due to each, that is to say, what they signify in the course of events. Ptolemy, Tycho and Kepler, Newton, and others among the great astronomers, have confirmed the ascriptions of the astrologers from personal observation, but without in any way contributing to the solution of the problem of their modus operandi, presuming them to have a causative relationship in human affairs, or of their status in a scheme of universal symbolism. They have just left the problem where they found it, while confirming the general claim of astrologers that there is a possible means of a scientific method of prediction. Astrologers make no claim to any degree of special inspiration. They merely argue from like causes to like effects, finding illustration of the law of periodicity in lunations, transits, eclipses and revolutional ingresses, which, being connected in experience with a certain succession of events, are found to produce events of a similar nature whenever they recur. Astronomy gives us the periodic values of these several factors, while Astrology supplies an interpretation from experience. Nothing could be more scientific or more satisfactory. I may now pass to the citation of some remarkable instances of scientific prediction.
CHAPTER VIII
ANCIENT AND MODERN EXAMPLES
Among the earliest of the great readers of the Symbolism of the universe was Thales of Miletus, who during the sixth century B.C. formulated a true theory of the cause of eclipses, and proved his theory by predicting the eclipse of May 28, 585 B.C. He founded the Ionic sect of philosophers, which was distinguished for the profundity of its speculations, to which his successors and pupils, Anaxagoras, Anaximander, Anaximenes and Archelaus so largely contributed. Archelaus became the master of Socrates. Anaxagoras proved himself as skilful as his Master in the use of the sphere and in astronomical studies, for he predicted the eclipse of the Sun which was seen at Athens in the first year of the Peloponnesian War. From Thucydides we learn that it happened after noon in the summer, and that the Sun assumed a crescent shape and that some of the stars shone out.
Sir J. Herschel has spoken of this eclipse as total, but this cannot be, as the Moon’s apparent diameter was less than that of the Sun, so that even where it was central it would be but annular.
Now of Thales it is recorded that he foresaw by his reading of the symbols that there would be a great dearth of olives in a certain year, and he accordingly bought up all the stock of olives that was on the market and chartered all the stalls, so that when the dearth occurred he was able to sell at his own price, and thereby made a great sum of money. This was at Alexandria. He then went to Athens and found the plague raging there. He at once took the matter in hand and was speedily successful in purging the city, so that the people erected a statue in his honour to commemorate the event. Seeing his end approaching and knowing that it would be due to the fall of some heavy body, if indeed he himself did not receive a fall, he thought to circumvent the evil by taking necessary precautions. To this end he retired to a field where he established himself. Being thus far removed from any buildings and himself in no danger of falling from a height, he thought himself to be secure, and looked forward to the time when the evil indications should have passed by. But it happened that an eagle, having secured a particularly fine tortoise as prey, carried it aloft and sought for somewhat whereon to break its shell. Seeing the bald head of the philosopher and mistaking it for a stone, the eagle promptly let the tortoise fall. Exit Thales!
The general truth of the Hebrew records has been abundantly established by archaeologists both in regard to the Babylonian and Egyptian captivities and the sojourn in the wilderness. Their prophets were men skilled in the reading of the universal symbolism, and they described events centuries before they happened. Daniel so correctly portrays the career of Alexander that the early opponents of the Bible sought to prove, but without success, that the prophet was describing what was past instead of predicting what was in the future. However this may be, we cannot get away from the fact that the ruin and desolation of many cities which were in a high state of prosperity in Daniel’s time and for some centuries after, such as Moab, Edom, Amalek, Tyre and Sidon, and Ammon, were undoubtedly predicted. These cities were to be blotted out. They were in existence in the first centuries of our era, but now they no longer exist. The subjugation of Egypt was clearly foretold and has accordingly happened. Nineveh and Babylon were condemned to desolation and utter ruin when in the height of their prosperity. They were to be places of eternal solitude, the haunt of wild beasts, and the palaces a hiding-place for jackals. Daniel’s famous prophecy of the coming of the Messiah after Seventy Weeks, i. e. 490 years from the time of the going forth of the order to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. The prophet clearly indicates the source whence he was able to obtain initial light upon the basis of prophecy, for he informs us that in the first year of the reign of Darius (521 B.C.) he “understood by books the numbers of the years,” etc. Thereafter by prayer and fasting he attained great illumination, but in all his prophecies, where he makes use of the symbolism of Nature, he uses the day for a year that is still pursued by the student of Astrology.
Coming to more modern times of which we have closer record, we find in Michael Nostradamus, Physician to Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici, something of the same flame that animated the ancient prophets. He carried his Astrology to a fine art, and among his predictions are many that deserve notice. The death of the King in a duel is well pourtrayed by him in a stanza—
Le lion jeun le vieux surmontera
En champ bellique par singulier duel,
Frappe a cage d’or
Deux plaies d’une, et puis un mort cruel.
Henry II was killed by Montmorency on the 10th July, 1547, while engaged in a tourney at the nuptials of his sister with the Duke of Savoy. The lance of the Comte de Montmorency struck the gilded vizor of the King and penetrated to the eye. A tumour subsequently developed and the King died of it. This is in agreement with the prophecy of Morin, who in his horoscope of the King gave his death from a hurt to the head.
Nostradamus is also believed to have foreshadowed the Fire of London in 1666 in the following lines—
Le sang de juste à Londres fera faut
Brusler par feu de vingt et trois les six.
The blood of the just (spilled) in London requires that it be burned by fire in Sixty-six.
This prophecy is in line with that of the famous astrologer, William Lilly, who was patronized by King Charles I, and whose works were collected by Sir Elias Ashmole. Lilly so clearly predicted the Plague and Fire in two hieroglyphics that he was subsequently arraigned before Parliament concerning his more intimate knowledge of the source whence he drew his inspiration. His statement contained in Christian Astrology is that he founded his prediction on the ingress of the aphelion of Mars into the sign Virgo, which he affirmed was the ruler of the Monarchy then reigning.
| The Aphelion of Mars was on Jan. 1, 1800 | 5s 2° 23´ 19´´ |
| From this take for 200 years motion | 3° 39´ 40´´ |
| _______________ | |
| Position for Jan. 1, A.D. 1600 | 4s 28° 43´ 39´´ |
| Add motion for 66 years | 1° 12´ 29´´ |
| ______________ | |
| Position for Jan. 1, A.D. 1666 | 4s 29° 56´ 8´´ |
Therefore in about four years from the time of the Fire the aphelion of Mars would enter the sign Virgo. Kepler’s Tables, which were current in Lilly’s time, show the date of entry to be 1654, and a mean of these shows the year 1662. Therefore, as the hieroglyphic was published some years before the events to which it refers, I think there can be no doubt that Lilly has given us a true explanation of his reasons for the prediction.
Kepler, the great Astronomer, not only affirmed his belief in the principles of Astrology, but gave illustration of them by his prediction of the rise and fall of Wallenstein.
Of Jerome Cardan, the astrologer and mathematician, who compiled the Centiloquia of Ptolemy, and made important contributions to the study of Algebra, there is a remarkable story on record concerning his prescience of his own death and the manner of it.
It appears that from a study of his own horoscope he came to the conclusion that at a certain time he would be in danger of death by human violence. He therefore took precautions, and, having stored his larder with sufficient material to see him through the evil period, he securely bolted and barred all the doors and windows of the house, and thus thought himself to be in great security. But it happened that a band of robbers passing that way saw the house closed up, and, finding it to be very securely protected, they fancied that some great treasure might lay hidden away in it. They were not long in breaking into the place, and, meeting Jerome at the foot of the stairway, brutally murdered him.
John Dryden, the poet, studied Astrology very carefully, and the excellence of his faculty may be judged from the precision with which he predicted the career of his own son Charles. Congreve gives us the account very circumstantially. It is said that when his lady was about to give birth to this child, Dryden left his watch upon the table, instructing the attendants to be very careful in noting the time of the child’s birth. The event having been carefully timed, Dryden computed the horoscope and made the usual calculations. He was thus able shortly to inform his lady that at eight years of age the boy would be in danger of death by a fall. If he survived this he would be again in danger from a similar accident at twenty-three years of age, but that should he yet survive then at thirty-three or thirty-four he would certainly succumb to the malefic influences which then had indication in the horoscope.
In effect it was seen that when the boy arrived at the age of eight years he nearly met his death. His father, being intent on going to a hunt, left the lad at home with a Latin exercise, enjoining him strictly not to leave the house until his return. As fate would have it, however, the stag in breaking away from the hounds jumped the wall of Dryden’s garden, and the boy running out to see what the noise was all about, came by the wall just as the hounds were scaling it. The wall gave way under the pressure of the pack, and Charles was buried beneath it. After a long illness he was restored to comparative health. At twenty-three years of age, when descending the steps of the Vatican, he fell and received such a severe blow upon the head as to render him unconscious. From this, however, he recovered, and might have lived to defeat the sinister predictions of his father, but that at the age of thirty-three he was tempted one day to indulge in a swimming feat in the Thames. Having crossed the river twice in succession he essayed to perform the feat a third time, but being caught with cramp or heart failure he was soon seen to be in difficulties; and before assistance could be rendered he sank and was drowned.
Thus we see that among the readers of the Symbols some were able to admonish others and to give timely warning of the evils which beset them, while themselves unable to provide against those troubles of which they had equal prescience. One is indeed tempted to say with Philip Bailey, “Free will in man is necessity in play.” But we know that the reading of the symbols is not the same as the understanding of the law, and it is quite reasonable to affirm that the ability to foresee and predict a danger does not carry with it the ability to avert it. That such power lies to the hand of man we may assume from the fact that successive rulers of ancient China were able to continue in vigorous life long past the age at which astrological indications extend. Thus Fuh Hi reigned 115 years, Shin Nung 140 years, while Hwang Ti lived 110 years and reigned 100. Show Hao lived 100 and reigned for 84, and several others lived over 100 years each, and according to astrological principles all the “arcs of direction” would be completed in 112 years. Thus Fuh Hi began the Patriarchal Dynasty in 2943 B.C., and the obliquity of the Ecliptic was then 24° 7´, and taking the capital of the Yellow Empire as in latitude 39° 54´ the product of their tangents will amount to about 22°, which added to 90° will give 112° or about the same number of years.
But we are also told that these men understood the Tao-tien, or universal laws, and were in possession of the efficacious Word, so that by their knowledge, allied to their great virtues and simplicity of life, they were enabled to withstand the assaults of cosmical forces and extend their years beyond the low average to which modern civilization has brought us. It has been suggested by some controversialists that the age of Methuselah, which is given as 969 years, should be reckoned as lunar years, that is to say, as nine hundred and sixty-nine lunations. But this would yield a period of about 78 years and 120 days merely, and by the same computation he would be just over 15 years of age when he begat Lamech, for it is said that he was then 187 years of age, and 187 lunations equal 15 years and 47 days. But this would falsify the whole of the chronology, which, although not established, is found to be consistent in itself. Thus both the Chinese and the Hebrews agree as to the date of the Flood, 2348 B.C. At that time Noah was the Patriarchal ruler in Chaldea and Yaou and Shun were joint riders in the Yellow Empire. The curious agreement of the Hebrew and Chinese records is presumptive evidence of something in the nature of a vast and probably universal cataclysm. The following is the computation from Genesis—
Age of Adam at the birth of Seth, 130 years.
” Seth ” ” Enos, 105 ”
” Enos ” ” Cainan, 90 ”
” Cainan ” ” Mahalaleel, 70 ”
” Mahalaleel ” ” Jared, 65 ”
” Jared ” ” Enoch, 162 ”
” Enoch ” ” Methuselah, 65 ”
” Methuselah ” ” Lamech, 187 ”
” Lamech ” ” Noah, 182 ”
” Noah at the time of Flood, 600 ”
——
Total of years from Epoch 1656 ”
Beginning of the record, B.C. 4004 ”
——
Date of the Flood, B.C. 2348 ”
It is quite clear, therefore, that if we reduce the natural years of Methuselah to lunar years the result would be to vitiate the whole of the chronology, and, moreover, if we did so in regard to the years of Methuselah we must also do so in regard to others of the Patriarchs. This would mean that Mahalaleel was born to Cainan when the latter was just over seven year of age; or that Methuselah was born to Enoch in the sixth year of his age! If there is any improbability in the record at all, it is rather in the idea of these patriarchal infants than in that of the extreme longevity of Methuselah. If a mere tortoise can live for 500 years, why not a human? What the simple life is capable of, we of this age have no knowledge from experience, but I see no reason why certain souls, fitted by spiritual selection for the performance of some great work or the up-holding of a holy tradition, should not incarnate under cosmical conditions which are also so select as to withstand the concatenation of natural forces which make for dissolution. At all events we have here a rather interesting problem for the Eugenists, who, basing their principles on purely physiological grounds, are confronted and disarmed on every side by these occult forces in Nature which they have failed to take into account. While they base all their calculations on physical heredity, the occultist points silently but impressively to the fact of psychic tradition, and in support of the occult position we are able to point to a hundred cases of insanity which can be specifically predicted from the moment of birth and years before the symptoms of mental disorder begin to manifest. A theory to have a working value must include all the facts, and so far as human genetics are concerned not the least among these facts is that of the cyclic rebirth of souls and the continual importation of new psychic forces into the line of physical heredity. The study of Eugenics should begin in the study of psychology. We know, for instance, that progeny generated during intoxication will probably turn out epileptic, but that does not answer the question as to why one soul rather than another should animate that body. Yet out of a dozen horoscopes an astrologer will unhesitatingly pick out any one that may happen to belong to a body thus afflicted. This fact should give us pause to re-examine the foundations of our system of genetics. The secret of health and longevity is not to be found on this side of the spiritual equator.
CHAPTER IX
A TYPICAL CASE
The ancient secret records embody a tradition of the going down of Atlantis into the depths of the sea after the perversion of a race of humanity whose physical culture, civilization and scientific attainments eclipsed anything of which we have modern example.
The Hebrew records give us the familiar case of Babel, that achievement of human arrogance which reached to the gates of the Sun. The great civilizations of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome have gone the way of all things temporal. In the modern endeavour to “beat the record” there is an element of danger which is too lightly regarded by those who have no knowledge whatsoever of the forces with which they are playing. These are not of the air and wave alone but of the whole universe, as well spiritual as physical. Let us look at the matter in the light of a modern example.
I have no record as to when the Titanic was keeled, but there is certain knowledge that it was launched on the 31st of May, 1911 at Belfast, the time being Greenwich Mean Time, 12.42 p.m. The ship was well-named, not only because it was the greatest embodiment of human engineering and ship-building skill, a veritable monster of a modern Frankenstein, but also because it was the embodiment of human pride and daring. The Titans, it will be remembered, were a race of giants, sons of Heaven and Earth, who were hurled into the abyss for daring to make war against Zeus. It is the Greek story of the submersion of Atlantis.
Ambitious in design, colossal in form, and inclusive of the very latest of modern luxury, this floating city took the water for the first time at a moment when the whole amphitheatre of heaven was witness of indications of impending disaster. I do not pretend to know what particular Master of Wisdom it was who set Argo Navis in the heavens as a symbol of all that maritime prowess with which the world has grown wonderful. I only know that in whatsoever horoscope a malefic planet occupies that particular part of the heavens it stands for a symbol of disaster by navigation. It is associated with Cancer. Neither do I know who it was gave to Neptune the traditional rule of the ocean, but yet I find it a prominent and malefic factor in all significations of shipwreck.
Now we have said that the time of the launching of the Titanic was effected under portents of disaster. Let us go more closely into the particulars. At the moment of launching the 19th degree of the sign Virgo was rising at Belfast with the planet Mars just below the eastern horizon. The ruler of the horoscope was Mercury, and we find it in the 9th division of the heavens, that part which has significance of voyages, and in conjunction with Saturn, the significator of delays, obstacles, obstructions and collapse. Both Saturn and Mercury were opposed by Jupiter. The Moon was in the “ocean” sign, Cancer going to the opposition of Uranus, the symbol of sudden catastrophe.
The most striking point is the ruler of the horoscope, Mercury, in the House of Voyages conjoined with the malefic planet Saturn.
The Titanic set out for Southampton to take up its first commission on the 2nd of April, 1912, at 9.20 a.m.
At this time Cancer was rising, and the Moon was therefore ruler of the horoscope. It is found in opposition to the Sun and in square aspect to Neptune in Cancer just below the horizon. Here again we have the ruler of the horoscope just separating from eclipse and applying to an evil aspect with Neptune, the traditional ruler of the ocean.
The leviathan left Southampton on its maiden voyage at noon of the 10th of April, 1912. At this time we find the sign Leo rising, and the Sun, ruler of the horoscope, in quadrature to Neptune in the 12th House, an indication of hidden dangers.
Thus in every case we find the ruler of the horoscope to be significantly and severely afflicted. But that which was specifically indicated as regards the Titanic was generally indicated by the position of Neptune in the 8th House (death) of the Vernal Ingress preceding the event, whereat the Sun was in quadrature to Neptune, and this indication was repeated in the horoscope for the sailing from Southampton on the 10th of April.
Figure 6.
Among many notable passengers on board the fated vessel, none was better known or more generally respected than Mr. W. T. Stead. He was born, according to his own statement, on the 5th of July, 1849, “before breakfast.” The horoscope which fits the events of his life is one set for that date at 7 a.m., and the above is the figure of the heavens at that time.
Here again we find the Sun, ruler of the horoscope, in the significant sign Cancer afflicted by the opposition of the Moon and the quadrature of Saturn, the latter malefic being in the 9th House, which has already been defined as that of “voyages.” The fateful planet Neptune holds the 8th House in the watery sign Pisces.
The indications of a violent and unnatural death are clearly defined by Ptolemy, who informs us that when both the luminaries are afflicted by the same malefic, or when each luminary is separately afflicted, there being no assistance from the benefic planets (Venus and Jupiter) the native will die an unnatural death. Here we find both the Sun and Moon in quadrature to Saturn in the 9th House, showing as clearly as anything can be, that there would be danger of death in a foreign land or while on a voyage, and that by violence. I have no doubt at all that Mr. Stead met his death through a blow upon the head, as there are evident signs of collision, but none of suffocation.
The horoscope is in other ways significant of the main facts of the life of the great journalist. Five planets in cardinal signs with Mars in the Mid-heaven testify to the tireless energy, executive ability, courage and daring for which he was remarkable. This elevated position of the planet Mars always denotes impulse and impetuosity, and it is similarly placed in the horoscope of Kaiser Wilhelm, in whom Mr. Stead would doubtless have found a congenial spirit. It gives that “scorn of consequence” which attaches to the enthusiast in every phase of life, and tends greatly to produce the pioneer spirit. With Gladstone, Mr. Stead shared the view that “psychical research is by far the most important work that is being done in the world,” but no astrologer would have recommended him to undertake it, for with Saturn in the 9th division of the heavens afflicting the luminaries he could hardly hope for success in that direction, and there is little doubt that he was very grossly deceived by some in whom he placed great reliance in this matter. The trine of Neptune to Mercury would, however, impel him to such subjects. Borderland was not a financial success, nor was it much more than a ragbag of fragmentary and ill-assorted evidence. Julia’s Bureau was not a success either from a financial or evidential point of view. No message of warning came through from “Julia” to save him from his death voyage. Let us accept the suggestion that has been offered, namely, that he was wanted elsewhere. It was still open to those who were aware of the fact to say so, and thus contribute one of the most striking pieces of evidence for the operation in mundane life of extraneous intelligences, which would have gone further to uphold the claims of those who believe in spirit-guidance than all the literature Mr. Stead lavished on the subject.
At the time of the disaster we find the following arcs of direction measured in the prime vertical to be in operation—
Moon opposition Uranus,
Sun conjunction Uranus,
Moon parallel Mars,
while the Moon by secondary direction, that is, accounting one day after birth for each year of life and two hours for every month, was in 26° of Aries, exactly the longitude of the catastrophic planet Uranus at the time of birth!
Compare this horoscope with that of the ill-fated Captain of the Titanic. According to the local record Captain Smith was born at Handley, Staffs., on the 27th of January, 1850. Here again we find the luminaries in opposition to one another as in the horoscope of Mr. Stead, and both are afflicted by the aspect of Mars. The time of birth was probably at about five o’clock in the afternoon, when the planet Neptune would be in the 8th House and Saturn and Uranus in the 9th division of the heavens. Sixty-two days after birth the planet Uranus had reached the Mid-heaven of the horoscope, and on the day of the disaster Mercury was in transit over the same point, while the great symbol of death and destruction, an eclipse of the Sun, fell in 27° of Aries on the 17th of April, close to the Mid-heaven of this horoscope and on that of Mr. Stead’s horoscope. Further, the Moon at the birth of Captain Smith was in the 4th degree of Leo and on the day of the disaster Uranus was transiting the exact opposition in Aquarius 4. Moreover, at the time of the sailing of the Titanic from Belfast to undertake her ill-fated maiden voyage, the 5th degree of Cancer was rising, and on the day of the disaster Mars had reached this exact degree of the zodiac, being in 4° 56´ of Cancer at Noon.
No case that could be submitted more fully and completely illustrates the folly of disregarding the symbolism of the heavens, or more forcibly accentuates the need of human conspiracy in regard to cosmical agencies. Man has harnessed some of the most potent forces of Nature and has constrained them to his service, but for some as yet undiscovered reason he prefers to remain in ignorance of the laws which relate him to his greater cosmical environment. We have imagined that by controlling these natural forces we have asserted our mastery over destiny. The heavens from out the immeasurable depths of space are the silent witnesses of our folly and arrogance. The same stars that fought against Sisera fight ever against the man who is ignorant of the laws of the universe which condition him. We are fated to the extent that we are ignorant of those laws, and culpable to the degree that we disregard those that we know. The sea, the vessels that are afloat upon it and all their human freight, are as nearly touched and as surely disposed by interplanetary action and cosmical forces as are the molecules of air and water that constitute the winds and waves. Never a ship was keeled or launched but into it were compounded the elements that respond to the great heart-beat of Nature. That man should use all his faculties to the greatest possible advantage to himself and through himself to the race at large, that he should put forth all his powers in the effort to master the forces which appear to be in conflict with him, would appear to be his supreme duty and his highest guerdon. But there is a more convenient and less dangerous way. Instead of defying the forces of Nature he can make use of them, instead, of ignoring the laws of Nature he can adapt himself to them. This is called the covert agreement. It is the ancient wisdom, the simple way, and those who anciently observed it found it to be effectual for good. Those ancient Britains who thought Canute to be so great that he could set back the ocean tides were of that order of Titans who would measure their strength with the Almighty. We, who have understood the laws governing the tides, have gained a mastery over them by the simple means of adaptation. In this instance we have adapted ourselves to Nature. It is possible to extend the process to include the election of times and seasons for any purpose whatsoever. Solomon, who is regarded by the average man as an inconsequent babbler of effete doctrine, affirmed that there is a time for every purpose under the heavens. A closer study of this doctrine of elections—as the proper choice of time for specific purposes is called in Astrology—would lead men to take a conscious part in the conspiracy of well-doing, by the adjustment of action to purpose and of both to astral and cosmical conditions. This would be infinitely better than “taking one’s chance,” and certainly more in conformity with the spirit of true religion. But before we can do this we shall have to instruct ourselves more generally in the symbolism of the universe and the reading of those symbols which from the beginning were set and appointed to us for “signs and for seasons, for days and for years.”
A knowledge of cosmical symbolism and of the facts of planetary interaction is that to which science will inevitably be compelled, and which sooner or later it will recognize as essential to a true concept of the relations of man to his greater environment. And when this system of Anthrocosmology shall have been established, as assuredly it will be, then will humanity perceive in all humility that God, and not Britannia, rules the waves, and that the planets are his agents.
CHAPTER X
THE LAW OF CYCLES
It has already been shown that from most ancient times the Law of Periodicity was known and expounded. We find reference to it in the Vishnu Puràna which deals with the great periods of cosmic manifestation and activity, called Manvantaras, and the corresponding periods of obscuration and quiescence known as Pralayas. These are shown to have an astronomical basis and to have been directly related (a) to the period of Precession known as the Great Year of Plato, and (b) to the inclination of the Earth’s axis to the plane of the Ecliptic. For whereas the Precession, from whatever source arising, is found to be approximately 50´´ per year, the diminution of the Earth’s axial inclination is found to be 50´´ per century. Thus the Precessional Year is 25,920 years, and the other 2,592,000 years in extent.
Now if we multiply this latter period by ten and divide the product by six, we shall have the dividend 4,320,000, which we have already identified as the value in years of the Maha-yuga or Great Age. This means that the entire revolution of the Earth’s axis occupies a period which is ten-sixths of the whole period of cosmic activity known as the Manvantara. Hence we have the series 1, 2, 3, 4 equals 10, and the series 6, 12, 18, 24 equals 60, which we have already shown to be the basis of the Yugas composing the Maha-yuga. This value of 60 has therefore a cosmical significance.[[1]] It is geometrically derived from the interlacing of two equilateral triangles, commonly known as the Seal of Solomon, and esoterically invested with the symbolical value of the universe in manifestation of Spirit (male, positive) and Matter (female, negative), and also the Out-breathing and In-breathing of the Great Breath of Life. Water crystallizes at an angle of 60°, and the ancient teaching of Pythagoras, Plato, Thales and other Initiates, was that Water was the basic element of Nature. By the elements they did not understand the chemical elements known to modern Chemistry, but the Four states of Matter, the Igneous, Gaseous, Fluidic and Mineral, which have their correspondences in the Four Principles of the human constitution, Spirit, Mind, Soul and Body, of which the first two are formless or immaterial, and the last two formative or material. Thus we have the higher trial of Intelligence, Life and Substance, with their multiplex manifestations in the lower triad of Consciousness, Force and Matter.
For there is only One Intelligence, One Life and One Substance, and it is with the manifestations of these in the lower world that Science is concerned. Wisdom has no other concern than to discern the Unity in Diversity and to cognize all in terms of the One Being.
Figure 7.
Another very interesting cosmical cycle is that of the Eclipse Period. The initial value of this is 18 years 11 days 7 hours 42 mins. 35 secs., being the mean interval between an eclipse and its recurrence. In three cycles the eclipse will have moved through one sign of the zodiac, and in twelve times three or thirty-six cycles it will have moved through the entire zodiac and come again to the place of the first occurrence. Then 18 × 3 × 12 or 648 years, to which add one for the precessional increment and obtain 649 years as the Eclipse Cycle, after which the phenomena recur in the same part of the zodiac.
Thus I find an eclipse of the Sun in June, A.D. 1277, and the same eclipse in June, A.D. 1926, another in June 1295, which recurs in June 1944.
We can hardly escape the inevitable harmony of celestial motions when we note that the eclipse which recurs every eighteen years, makes seventy-two appearances during the entire period that it takes to work across the Earth’s disc from its first appearance in the Arctic Circle to its disappearance in the Antarctic. Here we have four times 18 equals 72, and 72 times 18 are 1296 years. Thus, again, we have the cyclic period of 1296 years, which we have already noted in connection with cosmical symbolism. It is twice the eclipse cycle of 648 years, after which the eclipses return to the same part of the zodiac. It has not yet been shown that there is any necessary connection between these two periods, and it is therefore the more remarkable. The average of Precession being 1° in seventy-two years, it is, of course, quite easy to link the eclipse period with the Great Year.
Here, then, we have a veritable Phœnix which renews itself after incineration in Heliopolis (the City of the Sun), and although Eclipses may have no cosmical significance, they may very well have a terrestrial one, both causative and symbolical. Take, for instance, the abscission of the Sun’s rays which takes place at the time of a solar eclipse. This affects only a small area of the Earth’s surface, but quite sufficient to produce very remarkable results when, to the known tidal influence of the luminaries we add the violent and sudden change in the electrostatic condition of the atmosphere. Thus at the solar eclipse of 17th April, 1912, I registered a fall of 27° of temperature in the space of one hour in London. Here the eclipse was not at its maximum, and in no place was it total but merely annular. If the effects are due to the combined action of the Sun and Moon, the ratio of influence being in regard to the Sun 30 per cent., and to the Moon 70 per cent. roughly, then it may reasonably be supposed that when the Moon is simultaneously in perigee, that is, nearest to the Earth in its orbit, at the time of an eclipse, the effects should be proportionately greater, and also that they should be experienced in that locality which coincides with the zenith position of the luminaries at conjunction.
Such effects can be traced in the occurrence of great earthquake disturbances, due, no doubt, to an effort of nature to restore the balance of magnetic action, the local fall of temperature being met by an uprush of electrical energy from the interior of the globe. Similar effects are registered in the human body by the local application of ice, the blood being finally determined to the affected part. And if the whole Earth can thus be disturbed by eclipse influence, so also must men be, since they are compounded of elements which are drawn from the Earth. Not only the waters, but also all plant- and animal-life, as well as the solid mass of the Earth itself, respond to this influence of the luminaries acting in combination, and there is little doubt that there is a tidal effect in the atmosphere which proceeds from the same cause, and which affects the course of the weather.
The fact that volcanic eruptions and earthquakes do not follow all eclipses, merely informs us that they do not always coincide with a volcanic area, but whenever they do so there are marked disturbances directly attributable to the action of the luminaries, and similarly the effects upon the weather will vary in accordance with local conditions, such as latitude, elevation, mean saturation point of the air, etc. Those who have failed to trace the connection between lunations and the weather, have left out of consideration the effects due to (a) the time of the conjunction, and (b) the Moon’s position in its orbit at the time. The Metonic Cycle of 6940 days or nineteen years, is another cycle of considerable value, which informs us what effects are due to the combined influence of the Sun and Moon irrespective of their ecliptic conjunction. The lunations occur in the same degree of the zodiac every nineteen years. Any effects that may be due to their influence can best be traced by observing how they fall in regard to the positions of the planets at an epoch such as the moment of a person’s birth. For if it is found that the New Moon falling on the place of Saturn in a horoscope of birth is followed by certain privations in agreement with the nature of the planet Saturn, and that similar effects are found to occur nineteen years afterwards, then the influence of the lunation as a factor in human life is presumably established. And if to Saturn we add the other planets, and also if we add the other aspects, such as the opposition, trine, quadrature and sextile, we shall be able to institute a series of observations which depend for their significance on the assumed value (causative or symbolic) of the luminaries. Such effects are easily traceable, and serve to establish the significance of this cycle.
The cycle of Jupiter which is taken at sixty years, assumes a significance only when we have proved the fact of interplanetary action. This fact has been established both astronomically and astrologically. The planet Jupiter takes twelve years to perform a revolution in the zodiac, and five times twelve is sixty years. But Saturn has a period of thirty years, and twice this is also sixty years. Consequently, if the planets Saturn and Jupiter are acting together from the same part of the heavens at a given date, they will be together again in the same part of the heavens at the end of sixty years, with a small variation due to the actual difference of their periods. This fact has proved of astronomical value, inasmuch as it has enabled us to estimate the disturbance due to their mutual action in the orbits of both planets. The period at which these perturbations would recur has been estimated at 920 years by Laplace, who discovered it. These perturbations form what are called the Great Equations of the planets Saturn and Jupiter, when calculation is made of their longitudes in orbit. It may be useful to note that at the maximum the disturbance of Saturn due to Jupiter’s action is 49´, and that of Jupiter due to Saturn’s action is 21´. As the discovery was not made until 1786, it will naturally follow that all calculations made from Saturn’s position prior to the eighteenth century, when it was incorporated as a factor in the Nautical Almanac, must be to some extent at fault. As cosmic symbols these planets, Saturn and Jupiter, have great significance, and they were highly esteemed in the astrological thought of the ancients.
Jupiter, as the most bulky of all the planets in the system, early claimed attention and took a foremost place in the pantheon. We find him as Jupiter-Ammon, as the Deva-pitar, Deo-pitar, and Jupiter of the Indian and Roman theogonies. He is found in the Sanskrit writings as Guru, the spiritual father or God-father, as the name Deo-pitar signifies, and also as Brihaspati, i. e. the Lord of Increase or Expansion. Similarly, Saturn was S’iva, the Destroyer, whose reputation for devouring his own offspring is referred to in the classical mythology of the Greeks. Thus Jupiter is Brahma, the Creator, and Saturn is S’iva, the Destroyer. Such a significance they are found to hold in the concept of modern astrologers. When, therefore, Jupiter is found in that part of the heavens which is empirically determined to have rule over the destinies of a country or people, there is found to be a period of expansion and prosperity; but when Saturn is thus placed the country suffers privations and losses. Let us look at some of these instances, as they have a direct bearing on the practical side of our occult studies, and give to the Law of Cycles an economic value.
I have before me an Investment Handbook, giving the dates of the highest and lowest records of the various prices of Stocks during the last fifteen years. The figures that I shall quote are taken directly from this book, and I need hardly assure the reader that the editors have no associations with Astrology.
From any astrological book dealing with the influence of the zodiac published prior to the year at which our observations commence, the reader may extract the following information: Scorpio rules Brazil, Sagittarius rules Spain, Capricornus rules India, Aquarius rules Russia, Pisces rules Portugal, Aries rules England, Taurus rules Ireland, etc. In 1895-6-7 the planet Saturn was in the sign Scorpio, and in 1898 Brazilian Stocks were at the lowest price between 1895 and 1910. In 1898 Saturn was in Sagittarius, and Spanish Fours were then at the lowest between 1895 and 1910, a period of fifteen years. In 1901 Saturn was in the sign Capricornus, but Jupiter also was there, and in effect, we do not find any depreciation of Stocks, but the reverse so far as India was concerned. In 1903-4-5 Saturn was in Aquarius, and in 1906 Russian 4% and 5% Stocks were at their lowest during the period under consideration. During 1906-7-8 Saturn was in Pisces, and in the following year Portuguese Stocks touched the lowest during a period of fifteen years.
During 1909-10 Saturn was in the sign Aries, and in 1910 Consols as well as Annuities were at their lowest for a period of fifteen years. During 1911-12 Saturn was in the sign Taurus, and Irish Land Stock is now (1912) lower than it has been for the past seventeen years.
These facts speak for themselves, and they show that Saturn is the cause of depression, destruction of credit and national prosperity, and loss.
The cyclic law and that of periodicity are practically identical. For what we trace as the periodicity of phenomena, can be shown to bear a direct relation to planetary cycles. Take, for instance, the periodicity of Sun-spots. The years of maximum frequency noted have led to the discovery of a period of 11 years and 40 days. Many years ago I published a statement to the effect that the rents in the luminous envelope or photosphere of the Sun would be found to coincide with the occursions of the planets Mars and Jupiter. Since then I have made further research, and I find that the mean of the two periods of these planets is 11 years and 203 days, which is in excess of the observed period of maximum solar activity by 163 days; but by taking the periods of Mars, Venus and the Earth into account, we have a period of 11 years 40½ days, which is exactly what we want. The Sun-spot period of 11·11 years is, therefore, attributable to the combined action of the planets Venus, the Earth and Mars, the mean of whose cycles yields a period so exactly in conformity with it. Probably the introduction of Jupiter and Saturn to the equation would yield a climacteric every fifth period. It is, however, of extreme interest to note that the years of the maximum Sun-spot appearance, 1871, 1882, 1904, 1916, 1927, are found to be associated with important configurations of the major planets: 1871, Saturn opposition Jupiter; 1882, Saturn conjunct Neptune; 1904, Jupiter opposition Uranus; 1916, Saturn conjunct Neptune; 1927, Jupiter conjunct Uranus. From this we might conclude that the luminous envelope of the Sun is acted upon by the planetary bodies when they are on the same solar meridian. An ingenious student of planetary influence, Prof. Corrigan, has suggested that by regarding the solar disc as a plane, and setting off the orbits of the planets from the centre, the parallels of solar latitude tangent to the orbits of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, are those along which the greatest Sun-spot activity is shown. Thus he shows that at the latitude of 5° North and South of the Sun’s equator, spots are produced by the action of the planet Mercury on the Sun: at latitude 6° those produced by Venus’s action are seen; at 7° those due to the action of the Earth and its satellite; at 13° those frequent spots due to Mars; and at 48° those due to Saturn; while the band corresponding to the orbit of Jupiter is attended by the largest and most frequent display of Sunspots. Hence the Professor is quite in agreement with my original statement that Sun-spots are principally caused by Mars and Jupiter. This certainly upholds the original observation that Sunspots are connected with the occursions of the planets Jupiter and Mars, but it would extend the period to 11 years and 203 days. The whole subject is, however, in its infancy.
The cycle of 265 years arising out of the periodic conjunctions of Saturn and Mars, and marking epochs of great political disturbance in those areas of the world associated with the signs of the zodiac wherein the conjunctions occur, has already received treatment in my former works, so that nothing need be added in this place. For the benefit of those who have not hitherto touched the subject, however, I may give a single instance. Saturn and Mars form their conjunction every two years, during which period they move forward one sign, the whole circle embracing about 29½ years, so that they complete nine cycles and come to a conjunction in the same part of the zodiac about the same time of the year after a period of 265 years. The last conjunction of Saturn in Aries was in 1910, and 265 years before this date takes us back to the year 1645, when the insurrection under Cromwell took place, and 265 years earlier, in 1380, we have the insurrection under Wat Tyler. Similar effects can be traced in the history of other countries from the same cause.
The old astrologers gave certain periods as the Least Years of the planets, the Sun and Moon. In the scheme of Ptolemy, which differs in some respects from this enumeration, most of these periods are represented and evidently have reference to the orbital periods of the bodies referred to. Thus the Moon has a period of 4 years, Mercury 10 years, Venus 8 years, Mars 15 years, Sun 19 years, Jupiter 12 years, Saturn 30 years, following upon which modern astrologers have added Uranus 84 years, and Neptune 164 years. But by taking the periods of the ancient planets only it is found that they are all contained in a period of 120 years, and that the periods of those planets which rule opposite signs, as Moon and Saturn, Mars and Venus, Jupiter and Mercury, when multiplied together produce 120, which is one-third of the degrees in a circle, and is the basis of the Vims’ottaradasa periods of the Hindu system, about which something may be said in a subsequent section of this work.
CHAPTER XI
THE TIME FACTOR IN KABALISM
Every system of Kabalism employs numbers in a symbolical sense, and attributes to them a significance as if they were causative factors. This is legitimate from the point of view of a philosophy that regards the Universe as Symbol. In such a scheme every cosmical factor assumes a symbolical value, according to its ratio in the sum of things, and each of the planets may thus be symbolized either as deities invested with attributes and virtues of a distinctly human nature, or yet may be expressed in terms of numerical values, quantities, colours, forms, and sounds.
But in all such systems the symbolism employed must finally submit to a mathematical expression, which, indeed, is the test of its truth, for as has been very wisely said, we have reason to suspect all statements of fact which are not capable of a mathematical expression. In this connection the Time factor becomes of the highest importance in Kabalism, and since the matter lies in the region of debate, something may be said in this place that may prove of value.
In my Kabala of Numbers and elsewhere I have repeatedly pointed out the fallacy of those systems which ignore the cosmic factors, which alone give symbolism its coherence. Nobody can reasonably ascribe any specific sound or numerical value to a planet, or any influence to any part of the heavens or to any period of time without having regard to some cosmical factor as the basis of the system to which these planetary or time significations belong.
Yet I find that such systems are all too prevalent, and that in some glaring instances they assume a factor as the basis of the system, and straightway set about to argue it out of existence. Thus it is stated in one small manual intended for the use of those studying the mysteries of sound and number, that it is “essential to have an accurate knowledge of the time of the rising of the sun at places on particular days,” and the “simple method” of doing this, according to its author, is to “take the sunrise from any reliable almanac ... and add to it for western longitude at the rate of four minutes per degree, and subtract for eastern longitude at the same rate, and you have the mean local time of sunrise.”
How far this is from the truth any tyro in astronomy will readily perceive. Yet when the error was pointed out to this would-be exponent of the “Mysteries,” instead of being gratefully accepted as a piece of good information which could be utilized in future publications, the unlucky critic was most thoroughly abused, and the matter being finally referred to the authorities at the Greenwich Observatory, it was clearly shown that the critic was right and the author of the “simple method” wrong in every case. The repetition of these errors in subsequent publications leaves one with no alternative but to conclude that either the intricacies of apparent local sunrise are beyond him, or that their introduction into his simple method of expounding the mysteries would undermine his market by rendering the truth too difficult for popular consumption.
Having already given the correct method of finding the local sunrise by reference to ascensional differences, a process which involves nothing more complex than adding two logarithms together, (tang. of Sun’s declination, × tang. of the latitude of place), from which we derive the ascensional difference (sine log.), and comparing the result with that due to the latitude of Greenwich. I need not waste space on the matter in these pages. But it may be pointed out for the benefit of those who wish to base their calculations of the planetary periods and sub-periods on the correct value of apparent sunrise, that the equation of time at the rate of four minutes for every degree applies only to meridian transit in Right Ascension, and has no connection with the equation by ascensional difference due to the latitude of the place. In fact, to find local sunrise it is absolutely necessary to take notice of “seasons and latitudes of places,” and so long as these are ignored so long will the mysteries of sound and number which depend on calculations made from time of sunrise remain “hidden mysteries” in fact as well as name.
By way of illustrating the inaccuracy and futility of the “simple method” of finding sunrise, I may take an illustration that is actually given by its inventor.
“For instance, the sun rises at Greenwich at 4.50 on the 23rd April, 1912, and we want to know the local sunrise at Epsom. All we have to do is to add the equivalent of 0° 17´ (which is nearly one fourth of a degree), 1 minute to that amount. The local sunrise at Epsom is, therefore, 4.51,” which for all practical purposes it is, since Epsom is on the same, or approximate, latitude as Greenwich. But when it is further said that the local time of sunrise is 4.48 at Newmarket on the same day, in the name of holy Science we must demur.
The sun’s declination at 4.50 on April 23rd is 12° 24´, which, referred to the latitude of Greenwich, gives an ascensional difference of 1 hr. 4 min. 12 sec., and to the latitude of Newmarket 1 hr. 6 min. 0 sec., the difference of these being 1 min. 48 sec., so that if the two places were on the same meridian the sun would rise on Newmarket at this time of the year nearly two minutes before it rises on Greenwich. But Newmarket is 0° 24´ east of Greenwich, and therefore it would further advance the time by 1 min. 36 sec., and taking the two factors into account we have for latitude and longitude combined 3 min. 24 sec. by which the sun rises on April 23rd sooner than at Greenwich, the mean time being some seconds before 4.47 a.m. Had a more northerly place been taken it could be shown that the discrepancy is proportionately greater, and in fact at the summer solstice the sun rises on Liverpool only 1 minute after it rises on Greenwich, although the former place is 11 min. 52 sec. west longitude, or 2° 58´, while at York it actually rises before it does at Greenwich.
Therefore I would urge that a kabalism that has reference to the cosmic factor of the sun’s rising would be more effectually serviceable than it is known to be if regard were had to the truth. A system that is based on error cannot be true in its structure, and this fact will account for the constant falling of bricks upon the hapless heads of those who enter the portals of this pseudo-scientific structure, where everything is at sixes and sevens, making unlucky thirteens, and where you have difficulty in distinguishing Hermes from Aphrodite, on account of their exchange of clothes.
Similarly, it is no use instituting a system of Kabalism that depends on the position of the sun at the birth of a person, and forthwith giving illustration of the system by means of births that are recorded in Old Style, which involves a difference of ten degrees in the sun’s longitude. Yet I have seen this done by sober-minded Kabalists, and illustrations of it exist in current works on the subject of Numerology. A system, of whatever nature, must be consistent in itself and must depend for its integrity upon a cosmical factor, otherwise it can only be described as a conglomerate of detached observations, which, being brought together cannot by any chance lay claim to the title of a system. In another section of this work I shall be able to show what was the origin of the various sounds attributed to the planets, and how the Mantravidya of the Brahmins of India has passed into the hands of Mohammedans and others, who have exploited it for their own purposes without reference to its origin. I shall also be able to show the astronomical basis of the various periods and sub-periods of the planets, including the famous trims’amsha, or “four minute period” which has played such an egregious part in the furtherance of a popular delusion.
Let me here say that a Kabalism is not a mere play upon figures, nor is it a system which arises by necessity from our system of enumeration as some have sought to prove. It is fundamentally an expression of some cosmical law, whether it be that of planetary periods, or other divisions of time instituted by us from observation of certain cosmic factors, or yet the laws of crystallization, which involve the fact of form in relation to sound vibrations. Thus we may have a lunar kabalism depending on the numbers 4, 7 and 28, another of the same nature depending on the numbers 3, 9, and 27: another solar kabala which arises from the numbers 18, 54, and 72. If those who seek to show that the decimal system was originated by the use of the ten fingers, called “digits,” would only have the patience to examine their theory, they would find that the facts are entirely against them. For if counting on the fingers reduced men to the decimal system, this system should be prevalent among the aboriginal peoples. It is, however, an ugly fact for the theorists that the very first system of enumeration that we come across is the duodecimal system of the Chinese and the Hebrews.
In the first place we find that the Chinese had twelve signs or months, each of thirty days, which was the antediluvian value of the year, afterwards rectified (2355 B.C.) by the intercalation of seven months in the course of nineteen years. The cycle of years was twice 60, or 120, arising out of the employment of ten roots and twelve branches. They appointed four chiefs to command the four gates or cardinal points and elected Twelve Patriarchs to govern local affairs. The duodecimal standard was instituted very early in the civilization of the Yellow Empire, as is evident from the Canon of Shun, wherein weights and measures were regulated by the Yellow Tube standard. This yellow tube was nine-tenths of a Chinese inch in bore circumference, and nine inches in length. It contained twelve hundred grains of millet which weighed twelve pennyweights, two pennyweights going to the ounce, sixteen ounces to the pound, thirty pounds to the quarter, and four quarters to the hundredweight. Thus the basis of the whole system of weights was regulated by sound, for there were twelve tubes, each of the same circumference but of different lengths, and these being struck gave the twelve notes of the Chinese musical gamut. The measures of length and capacity were also regulated by these tubes, and thus sound was at the root of all the Chinese mensuration. The fact that there were twelve sounds in the scale shows that the whole system was duodecimal.
The Hebrew system was also duodecimal, for we find that they had twelve months in the year answering to the twelve Gates of the Sun, such as those of Gaza (Capricorn) and Hebron (Cancer), which are mentioned in connection with the feats of Samson, the original of the Greek Hercules and obviously a Sun-god. The twelve tribes were formed upon the basis of the zodiacal circle, and are so referred to in Jacob’s last prophetic blessing, where the sons of the Patriarch are distinctly associated with the astrological portents of the twelve Signs.
Reuben—Taurus, the first sign of the Hebrew zodiac, connected with the constellation Orion and the letter Aleph (Bull). This tribe has often been associated with Aquarius, despite the fact that astrologically speaking it is not a watery sign, but belongs to the airy trigon. “Unstable as water,” is a figure of speech that has no reference to the astrological functions of the sign Aquarius.
Simeon and Levi—Gemini and Cancer. The Levitical sign Cancer.
Judah—Leo, “the old lion,” couchant. The regal sign Leo.
Zebulon—Virgo associated with Argos, the ship.
Issachar—Libra, “servant of tribute.”
Dan—Scorpio, associated with Serpentarius, “an adder in the path.”
Gad—Sagittarius, the trooper. The sign of Jupiter or “Gad.”
Asher—Capricornus.
Napthali—Aquarius, associated with the Tree, “who yieldeth goodly branches.” Here the “hind let loose” should be “the spreading oak.”
Joseph—Pisces, “the fruitful vine by the well.”
Benjamin—Aries, “the wolf,” connected with Anubis of the Egyptian symbology.
Thus the Hebraic system is found to be duodecimal also, and we follow suit in keeping our standards on this basis, counting twelve inches to the foot, and twelve pence to the shilling. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the ancients modelled their conceptions and established their standards “after the pattern of things in the heavens.” By common consent they instituted the Four Quarters arising out of the apparent motion of the Sun, in its daily rising, culminating, setting and decumbiture, and its apparent transit of the equinoxes and solstices. By common consent also they had regard to the twelve signs of the zodiac, and their corresponding months, the lunar asterisms or stations arising out of the mean diurnal motion of the moon, and other points and divisions of time, such as the syzyges and quadratures of the moon. All these became standards from which all calculations were made, and hence all kabalism, as derived from these cosmic phenomena, has a basis in fact which can only be appreciated when the cosmical factors employed are fully understood and appreciated. Hence I say that the time factor, in Kabalism is of the utmost importance.
CHAPTER XII
INVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION
The symbolism of astronomy lends itself in a most interesting manner to the great problem of human evolution. In my opening chapter it was shown that evolution is the natural reaction to the process of involution. Logically we cannot speak of evolution without taking into consideration the fact of a preceding involution. Ex nihilo nihil fit. The potential of matter is measured by its latent energy, and this latency is static Spirit Force. Matter is the ultimate expression of Spirit, as form is that of force. The material forms of the visible universe are therefore nothing but concrete spiritual forces.
But it would appear that there are two processes going on simultaneously in any cycle of cosmic life, and these are a downward spiritual involution and an upward physical evolution. The two processes are complementary, and possibly may be regarded as taking place simultaneously, although in the Chaldean account they are spoken of as distinct in point of time. Jacob’s vision of the Ladder of Life depicted angels ascending and descending simultaneously, and these are the spiritual forces that are in continual play between pure spirit and gross matter. The great tidal influx of spirit towards the plane of materiality admits of a constant ebb and flow of the life-wave, so that, although at the present stage of the Great Cycle the tide has set back and is at its ebb, carrying its burden of detached souls along with it towards the region of spirituality, may yet mark periodic incursions of the spirit towards the material plane, such incursions being in the nature of abnormal phenomena.
Thus we have from the beginning of the Great Cycle a double influx involving an interplay of Spirit and Matter. In the process of manifestation by means of differentiation, Spirit (the positive or male potency) may be regarded as taking a downward plunge on the left-hand side, while Substance (the negative or female potency) will in the same scheme take the right-hand side in its progress towards manifestation on the material plane. The Paramatma or Universal Spirit first appears as Purusha, while Mulaprakriti or Root Substance manifests as Prakriti. The ultimate expression of Purusha is Prana (Life force) while that of Prakriti is Prithivi (Matter). We thus have the Father Spirit on the one hand, and the Mother Substance on the other, manifesting eventually in the multitude of forms of Living Matter. Spirit Substance thus invests and is at the root of all physical life, Force and Matter standing always in the same undivided relations as do Spirit and Substance in the Archetypal World.
Such mysteries concerning the origin of things can be read in the astronomical disposition of the signs of the zodiac, where Leo is the symbol of the Father Spirit and Cancer that of the Mother Substance. These descend along their own arcs of involution through the planes of Buddhi and Manas, which are the higher and lower aspects of Mind, and in combination represent the potential and evolved Hermaphrodites, denoted by the planets Mercury and Venus, which are set over these signs in the astrological scheme, and have relation to the signs Virgo and Libra on the one hand and Gemini and Taurus on the other. Thence the Great Breath descends to the Kamic plane, manifesting in the Body of Desire. This is represented on either hand by the signs Scorpio and Aries. Next the Spirit-Substance manifests on the Astral or Psycho-Physical plane, which is symbolized by the planet Jupiter with its signs Sagittarius and Pisces, and finally precipitates in the material world denoted by the planet Saturn and its corresponding signs Capricornus and Aquarius, the symbols of matter in the concrete and in a state of flux.
The scheme may be reduced to a diagram as on page [121].
In view of this statement of the occult doctrine of the origin of the phenomenal world, we are led to expect in the course of physical evolution, which is another name for the process of spiritual unfoldment, that matter will yield continually new characteristics, which now lie in obscuro or latency. For spirit is now shaking itself free of the trammels of matter, organisms are becoming more and more subject and responsive to the impulses of the mind, and matter is everywhere giving way to the effort of a spiritual expression. The world has passed the zero point of greatest materiality and darkness, and though the mass of mankind are as yet only on the plane of Kama, actuated solely by the force of their desires and material appetites, yet quite a large section of the world’s population is coming under the direct influence of the Manasic forces, and the demand for knowledge is being met upon every side. Some few of the more advanced pioneers of the race are functioning in the light of the Buddhic plane and are overshadowed by the spirit. At the head of all this Earth’s humanity is the supreme Arhat, the Adam Kadmon of the Kabalists, the Iswara of the Hindus, the Jehovah of the Hebrews.
Figure 8.
What is going on in this world is happening also in others of the solar system, and over all is the Supreme Logos, Brahma-Vach, the Ancient of Days, whom we call the Lord. These are co-ordinating Centres of Intelligence and Power functioning in their respective spheres and on their several planes as the various nervous ganglia in the body of man, all being finally linked up to one Centre in whom resides the consciousness of the I AM, as planets are united to their central Sun.
And what we argue in regard to the constitution of the Universe we also affirm to be true regarding man, the Microcosm and epitome of the Universe. He is one of those angels “ascending and descending” on the Ladder of Life. For the purposes of illustration we may borrow a symbol from the astronomer, that of the elliptical orbit of the Earth. Let the Earth represent the spiritual monad which in process of involution has become associated with material conditions of life, and is now an imprisoned soul.
It answers to the gravitational pull of the material sun and revolves around it, chained by its material desires, yet enlarging its orbit as it advances in its evolution. The point where the planet passes its quadrature, corresponds to the event of incarnation, its lower apsis being the point of greatest physical vitality. It passes out of the physical at the next quadrature and for the remainder of its orbit continues in the psychic or intermediate state between the higher and lower worlds. At its higher apsis the soul is in its supreme state of elevation, mingling freely with other discarnate souls and those radiant denizens of the higher spiritual world who are there to minister to their spiritual needs. But when the reaction follows and the desire for earth-life again asserts itself, the soul responds to the gravitational pull of the material sun and falls again into incarnation.
There comes a time, however, when by its peregrinations in the sphere of the lower world, the soul gains knowledge of real values, and the awakening spirit, shaking free from the bonds of the flesh, answers to the gravitational pull of a higher or more interior Spiritual Sun which occupies the kenofocus of the great ellipse. Such a soul passes directly through the intermediate world into the World of Spirit, and thereafter revolves around the Spiritual Sun, descending only at the lowest point of its orbit into the intermediate world for the purpose of spiritual ministration, its only intercourse with the material world being normally through the world of discarnate souls who are subject to incarnation. The diagram presented on page [124], may assist the reader in following out the scheme.
I am not here laying down any final teaching or creed regarding the peregrinations of the Soul, though during a life of inward experience one gets some definite idea of the general plan of these things, but I am taking the position of a symbologist who employs cosmical facts to convey spiritual ideas, as one may use a figure of speech to suggest an analogy or convey an idea pertinent to the theme of conversation. Everything is symbolical, and things have no other meaning than that which we confer upon them, as letters or figures which are used to signal a meaning from one mind to another as by a code agreed upon beforehand, although in themselves these symbols bear no such significance.
So in the Dhammapada it is said: “Mind it is which gives to things their quality, their foundation and their being,” to which Epictetus subscribes when he says: “Men are disturbed by their view of things and not by the things themselves,” and these two views are at the base of Idealism and Quietism, as we may learn from Plato and Laotze.
Figure 9.
It would therefore have been equally true in a symbolical sense had the Higher, Middle and Lower Worlds been called the Sun, Moon and Earth Worlds, for these answer to the Spirit, Soul and Body of man, and therefore to the worlds or states of being in which they function. Also by the same symbolism they may be called the worlds of Light, Twilight and Darkness, answering to the three Gunas or qualities of the Soul in the Hindu philosophy, namely, Sattva, Rajasa, and Tamas. But the employment of a purely cosmical symbolism gains point from the fact that whatever may be our views regarding these ultimate problems of life, they must necessarily take form from the things of our experience and find expression in terms of natural phenomena, or so much of the Great Handwriting as we may have mastered and can employ as symbols.
The argument from analogy is indeed strongly in favour of the view that all spiritual truths have their counterpart and illustration in the phenomenal world, that there is a natural law in the spiritual world, and that this law can only be interpreted in terms of natural phenomena. But it is also permissible to take the opposite view and to affirm that there is a spiritual law in the natural world and that this can only be understood and interpreted in the light of the Spirit. Indeed philosophy tends ultimately to the view that the mind of man is but a centre of consciousness in the Universal Mind, that it reflects the Ideas of that Mind, and that things have no real existence except as products of mind. We all recognize the fact that the idea precedes and outlasts the form that embodies it, and that there is no constant relation between the thing and the thought of which it is an expression.
This idea, applied to the subject of Involution and Evolution, gives rise to the momentous thought that the Archetypal Mind that holds the idea of this universe and is its Creator, is under no contract to complete the scheme of things. God is under no necessity to finish His work. The Great Artificer may at any time destroy his moulds! But long-suffering Nature comforts us with the idea of an infinite patience, and the human mind suggests something indefinitely more steadfast than its own caprice.
Meanwhile by the dim light of our minds we grope our way among the scattered symbols, seeking in them for some intelligible answer to our questionings, hoping to find in them, when all are understood, a solution of the problem of the human soul. Science, philosophy and religion all assure us that we have reasonable hope, if not indeed the definite promise of eventual success.
CHAPTER XIII
PLANETARY NUMBERS
In a section of my work on the Kabala of Numbers I gave the planetary numbers as they have been handed down to us, and my authority in that case was John Heydon, who in his Holy Guide has delivered the traditional values of the planets, showing their correspondence with certain numbers.
I am now able to cite another authority in the person of Godfridus, who in the year 1650 published a book called Things Unknown. Those who read the book, should they be fortunate enough to obtain a copy of this scarce old volume, will probably agree with me that most of the information he has collected is really not worth knowing, being in many instances fanciful and misleading.
But among other things he quotes the Numbers of the planets and the signs of the zodiac. The numbers as given by him are the same as those given by Heydon, and for convenience may be repeated here—
Sun, 1 or 4; Moon, 7 or 2; Saturn, 8; Jupiter, 3; Mars, 9; Venus, 6; Mercury, 5.
Godfridus does not distinguish between the numbers 1 and 4 attributed to the Sun, or those of the Moon 7 and 2. It is important to know that 1 is the positive number of the Sun, and 7 that of the Moon, while 4 is the negative number of the Sun as 2 is that of the Moon. That is to say, if the Sun is in an even sign at any epoch, or enumeration is made concerning a male entity, whether man or animal, the number 1 must be used, while if the Sun be in a female sign, or enumeration has respect to a female, then the number 4 is used. Similarly in regard to the numbers of the Moon.
These numbers have been exploited in several books recently as if original with the author, who indeed has gone so far as to claim for them the authority of a Guru from whom he professes to have received them. It is a fact, however, that they have no representation in the East, neither among the Shemitic people nor the Aryans, and they are, as I have plainly stated elsewhere, traditional among the Kabalists. The fact that Heydon printed them and Godfridus also, and that these books are to be found in the British Museum Library, clearly indicates the source of inspiration, and locates the Guru in this case as residing solely in the fertile imagination of the author of The Mysteries.
Godfridus gives also the numbers attaching to the signs of the zodiac as follows—
Aries, 7; Taurus, 6; Gemini, 12; Cancer, 5; Leo, 1; Virgo, 10; Libra, 8; Scorpio, 9; Sagittarius, 4; Capricornus, 3; Aquarius, 2; Pisces, 11.
There is a special significance attaching to the order in which, these numbers are given, and it will repay the astute reader to give the matter a little study. I may here say that they were originally attached to the Twelve Houses, and became associated with the signs of the zodiac corresponding with these Houses at a later date. They should be studied in their prime significance.
Leaving this point for the time being, I would point out here that these numbers have been used in connection with the Signs by the author of Natural Law Versus Chance, who shows considerable faculty for painstaking research. Without referring to the source of his information, he clearly shows that the names of competitors may be enumerated by means of this zodiacal gamut, and brought under the unit value of one or other of the planets, which, if ruling at the time, is capable of conferring success.
That which appears to vitiate the scheme presented by him is the fact of his using the artificial instead of the natural Hours, for if it be allowed that the planets are associated with the days of the week and that the quadrants mark the natural divisions of the day, as from sunrise to noon, noon to sunset, sunset to midnight, and midnight to sunrise, then the Planetary Hours must be in terms of these natural divisions, and, irrespective of the season of the year and the consequent variation of the diurnal and nocturnal arcs, there will be six such “hours” from sunrise to noon, six from noon to sunset, and six in each of the other quarters of the circle. In fact, if “natural law” is to rule in the matter at all, it must be consistently carried out, and artificial divisions of the day will continue to befog the student of these arcana and prevent him from getting at the truth of the matter so long as they are employed. This putting of “new wine into old bottles” has effectually vitiated both the Natural Law system and that propounded in The Mysteries. If any student cares to work out the percentages of results derived from a strict following of the rules as given in either of those works, there will remain no shadow of doubt that a good thing has just been missed, for lack of a little regard to traditional usage.
But the climax of inconsistency is reached in the suggestion contained in The Mysteries, where it is said that the planets Mercury and Venus are misnamed, that Mercury is the antithesis of Mars and Venus that of Jupiter, and that their numbers are interchangeable! It is, in fact, calmly suggested that at some remote period of history not named by the author, the name-plates of Venus and Mercury became detached, and as a result the one planet was thereafter mistaken for the other! I can imagine sober astrologers directing the planet Mercury to a conjunction with the Sun for the event of marriage, or predicting travels from the conjunction of the Ascendant with Venus. In effect we are asked to regard the signs Libra and Taurus as the signs of Mercury, while Venus in exchange takes Gemini and Virgo. This may not appear so terribly inconsistent to such as are ignorant of the disposition of the signs and planets as to others, but I think that any one would jib at the idea of Venus as the significatrix of travel and trade. And when I speak of Venus in this connection I mean Venus and not Mercury in disguise. Yet one would have supposed that the very order of the days of the week and the planetary sequence from which it is derived would have given the author pause to think. So far from that, however, it seems to be set up as an unique discovery of the utmost importance. It is time, therefore, that the matter should be set straight, and the need for this seems the more urgent since I have actually known persons, intelligent and conservative of the truth in these matters, but keen to follow up any new clue, actually transposing the planets Mercury and Venus in their horoscopes and willing to believe, on the authority of an Occultist of some distinction who in a weak moment was induced to write a preface to the book, that the astronomers have all been wrong for many ages, and that in following the course of the planet Venus they were unwittingly pursuing that of Mercury! The position would be incredible were it not a fact in cold print.
Let us proceed with the justification of the old tradition. I have elsewhere shown that the planetary periods bear a direct relationship to their sign rulerships as determined by the ancients. It is seen that six bodies, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, embrace between them the circle of 360, each pair being divisors of one-third, or 120° or years.
The pairs are as follows—
Moon rules for 4 years, which divided into 120 equals 30. Saturn rules for 30 years, which divided into 120 equals 4. These two are opposites, Saturn ruling Capricorn and the Moon ruling Cancer.
Jupiter rules for 12 years, which divided into 120 gives 10. Mercury rules for 10 years, which divided into 120 gives 12. These two are opposites, for whereas Jupiter rules Sagittarius and Pisces, Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo, which are the opposite signs.
Venus rules for 8 years, which divided into 120 gives 15. Mars rules for 15 years, which divided into 120 gives 8. Venus rules the signs Taurus and Libra, whereas Mars rules the opposite signs Scorpio and Aries.
This may be allowed as a basis for what follows. The values and dominions are those traditionally received through Ptolemy. The periodic values of all the bodies of the ancient system are twice the square of seven. The square of seven is 49, and twice this is the value of the periods, namely 98 years. Students of numerology may pursue the subject to its legitimate conclusion. I may now proceed to establish this scheme by a series of numerical tests which have been communicated to me from India, and which I have remodelled for the purpose of this demonstration.
The harmony of the allotment of the numbers to the planets and signs is shown in the following scale, which, as will be seen, bear the numbers already ascribed to them by Godfridus and others.
Figure 10.
This arrangement is traditional among astrologers, and in very old works on the subject of planetary dominions we find the following suggestive glyph, which indicates that the mystery of the Pyramid may be solved by reference to the elements of the solar system.
Figure 11.
It is stated that the perpendicular of the Pyramid is the radius of a circle whose area exactly equals the area of the square base. If this be the fact, then we may conclude that the ancients successfully negotiated the problem of “squaring the circle.”
The cyclic order of the planets according to the ancients was thus: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. This order is not haphazard, as one might suppose who only knew the order of the days of the week bearing the Planets’ names, or the apparent order of the planetary orbits as seen from the Earth. There is nevertheless a very good reason for this order, and it consists in the orbital periods of the several bodies, that is, the times in which they appear to traverse the zodiac. Thus Saturn’s apparent period is about 30 years, Jupiter 12, Mars 2 years save forty-three days, the Sun one year, Venus about 7½ months, Mercury about 3 months, and the Moon one month. Applying the numerical test to this order, and retaining as before the same numbers for each of the planets, we have—
Figure 12.
If we begin the cycle with the Sun and follow with Venus, Mercury, etc., we shall have a resolution in terms of the Moon, thus—
Figure 13.
Again, if we take the positive Sun number and the negative Moon number, we have Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, 1295, equals 17 or 8, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn 368, equals 17 or 8, and 8 plus 8 equals 16, which is of unit value 7.
But the Kabalism of the numbers attaching to signs of the zodiac clearly shows that the planets Mars and Venus are natural opposites, and not Mercury and Mars, as erroneously stated. The following scheme will show that this is so.
Scorpio 9 opposed to Taurus 6
Libra 8 ” Aries 7
Virgo 10 1 ” Pisces 11 2
Leo 1 ” Aquarius 2
Cancer 5 ” Capricorn 3
Gemini 12 3 ” Sagittary 4
— —
27 24
Equals 9 Mars Equals 6 Venus.
The series begins with the signs of Mars and Venus and concludes under those of Mercury and Jupiter, the numbers attached to the various signs being reduced to their unit values and added together, thus yielding the sum of 27 for Mars and 24 for Venus, which again are reduced to the unit values of 9 and 6, the numbers of the planets under consideration.
Exactly the same result is produced if we begin the series with the other signs of Mars and Venus, namely, Aries and Libra.
Libra 8 opposed to Aries 7
Virgo 1 ” Pisces 2
Leo 1 ” Aquarius 2
Cancer 5 ” Capricorn 3
Gemini 3 ” Sagittary 4
Taurus 6 ” Scorpio 9
— —
24 27
Equals 6 Venus Equals 9 Mars.
By making a sum of the values of the signs according to their mutual oppositions, we have for—
Aries and Scorpio, the signs of Mars, values 7 and 9 equals 16
Sagittarius and Pisces, signs of Jupiter, 4 and 11 ” 15
Capricornus and Aquarius, signs of Saturn, 3 and 2 ” 5
—
Total 36
These are opposed to the signs—
Libra and Taurus, signs of Venus, values 6 and 8 equal 14
Gemini and Virgo, signs of Mercury ” 12 and 10 ” 22
Cancer and Leo, signs of Moon and Sun values 5 and 1 ” 6
—
Total 42
Thus we have again 36, unit value 9, for Mars; and 42, unit value 6, for Venus. This scheme may be reduced to a diagram, as on the following page.
Thus we see that 9, the number of Mars, is opposed to 6, the number of Venus, in whatever direction we look, and the old legends of Venus and Adonis, of Vulcan and Aphrodite, of Vishnu and Lakshmi, most clearly point to this association of the planets Venus and Mars in the minds of the writers of the mythology. As myths or veils they were intended doubtless to hide something from the popular mind, and initiation into the Mysteries consisted in the interpretation of these myths in terms of cosmical laws.
Figure 14.
CHAPTER XIV
SOME FURTHER KABALAS
Although it will be evident from the foregoing illustrations that a very definite design lies at the root of the allotment of numbers to the planets and the signs of the zodiac, yet the study of the subject would hardly be complete without some reference to some other methods that I have evolved or that are to be found hinted at but not expounded in the writings of others. If, for instance, I were required to demonstrate the fact that a certain method underlies the planetary numbers, I could do so by reference to the Kabala of the number 9, and although in the process I might have to concede the point that Jupiter and Venus are interchangeable, I should still be warranted by my Kabala in affirming that Mercury is not interchangeable with Mars, but that it is polarized by the Sun, and that Mars is the alternative or opposite of the Moon.
Now this little Kabala, while itself very suggestive and capable of many applications, has no cosmical basis, and therefore may be the occasion of much disturbance, if carried beyond its legitimate domain.
It is only necessary to take the numerical sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and centralize that number which answers to the planet whose opposite you require.
Thus for Saturn, whose number is 8, we have the sequence—
Saturn
4567 8 9123
22 15
4 10 6
or 1
Sun (+)
For Jupiter the resolution is as follows—
Jupiter
8912 3 4567
20 22
2 4
6
Venus
For the Sun, whose positive number is 1, we have—
Sun
6789 1 2345
30 14
3 5
8
Saturn
For Venus, whose number is 6, the resolution is—
Venus
2345 6 7891
14 25
5 7
12
or 3
Jupiter
For the Moon, whose number is 7 positive, we get—
Moon
3456 7 8912
18 20
9 2
11
or 2
Moon
So that having found the alternate of Saturn 8 to be Sun 1, and that of Venus 6 to be Jupiter 3, of the Moon 7 to be 2, it is quite easy to jump to the conclusion that the alternate of Mars 9 must be Mercury 5, and yet to get side-tracked on the very first trip. For observe what happens in the resolution of Mars, number 9,
Mars
5678 9 1234
26 10
8 1
9
Mars
which, seems to inform us that, whereas all things may be reduced and converted by Fire or the Will, neither consents to be converted. Herein is the spirit of freedom that characterizes the fiery planet and those that are born under its sway. We may now try Mercury, the universal resolvent.
Mercury
1234 5 6789
10 30
1 3
4
Sun (-)
In antithesis we may set the number of the Sun negative 4.
Sun
9123 4 5678
15 26
6 8
14
or 5
Mercury
Here, by a curious refractoriness of disposition, Mercury is seen to be resolvable only in terms of a negative Sun, the number 5 being set in apposition to 4. The obvious suggestion to those who are engaged in the hermetic art, should they happen upon this little kabalism, is that Mercury is the one thing that we are able to convert into gold.
Now if we collect these resolutions we shall find that they are all in terms of Mars or the number 9, whose position at the head of the scheme indicates, as clearly as figures can tell us, that the Will is the dominant factor in all human affairs.
Mars
9
Sun 4 5 Mercury
Jupiter 3 6 Venus
Saturn 8 1 Sun
2
Moon
7
Here we have Mars 9, Sun and Mercury 9, Jupiter and Venus 9, Saturn and Sun 9, Moon (positive and negative) 9. Moreover, it is seen that the sum of Sun, Jupiter and Saturn, 4 plus 3 plus 8, is 15, and that of Mercury, Venus and Sun, 5 plus 6 plus 1, is 12. Then 15 plus 12 are 27, and the unit value of this is again 9. It is further of interest to observe that the only planets that are not convertible are Mars and the Moon, and that at the head and foot of the scheme represent Fire and Water, symbols of Spirit and Matter, the Will and the element of Variability, one fixed and the other mutable. The numbers of the Moon are 2 and 7, and these are equal in sum to 9.
To argue thence that we are justified in transposing Mercury with Mars or Jupiter with Venus in any system that has a cosmical factor for its basis is to argue from cosmos into chaos. The planetary numbers and those of the zodiac were affixed by those who instituted the scheme, not from any considerations of a fanciful nature, but on certain cosmical principles which those who have thoroughly mastered the subject of Numerology will find working out in all astrological practice. It is, of course, allowable to use numbers in a symbolical manner after any order that may suit our purpose, but to proceed from the time of sunrise by progression through the planetary hours, and to violate the established order of those hours by the introduction of a fictitious interchange of factors, is an affront to the intelligence of every astrological student and a violation of the principles of cosmic symbology that can only find its karmic effects in a condition of mental chaos.
Another kabalism which employs the planetary factors has been in use for some time by certain well-known students of interpretation, and is principally applied to the predictive art. In this system the planets hold the same numbers as those traditionally allotted to them.
The signs of the zodiac, however, do not follow the same rule, but take the values that belong to their planetary rulers, as follows—
Aries 9, Taurus 6, Gemini 5, Cancer 7 or 2, Leo 1 or 4, Virgo 5, Libra 6, Scorpio 9, Sagittarius 3, Capricornus 8, Aquarius 8, Pisces 3.
These numbers are combined with those of the days of the week ruled by the planets. Thus in the case of a person born on a Tuesday in the month of November, the numbers are both 9, for Tuesday is ruled by Mars, whose number is 9, and in November the Sun is in Scorpio, which again gives the number 9. Hence those years in which the number 9 figures are regarded as important in the production of great events.
The months and signs corresponding are thus valued:—January 8, February 8, March 3, April 9, May 6, June 5, July 7 and 2, August 1 and 4, September 5, October 6, November 9 and December 3. But it should be observed that, in order to keep in touch with the cosmical order, these numbers are only to attach to the first 21 days of each month, the number for the succeeding month being used for the last 10 or 11 days. Similarly, the day counts from sunrise to sunrise according to some authors, but cosmically it counts from noon to noon, that period from noon to midnight being “the evening” and from midnight to noon “the morning,” as it is said in Genesis, Veyahi oreb veyahi beqer yom echad—“And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Perhaps one of the most interesting Kabalas is that which has reference to the values of the signs and planets when taken in combination. Each of the months in the annual circle has a number attaching to it according to the planet ruling the sign in which the Sun is, as already shown above. This is multiplied into the number allotted to the sign itself apart from its ruler. Thus—
| Month | Sign | No. | Ruler | No. | Product | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Capricorn | 3 | Saturn | 8 | 24 | 6 |
| February | Aquarius | 2 | Saturn | 8 | 16 | 7 |
| March | Pisces | 11 | Jupiter | 3 | 33 | 6 |
| April | Aries | 7 | Mars | 9 | 63 | 9 |
| May | Taurus | 6 | Venus | 6 | 36 | 9 |
| June | Gemini | 12 | Mercury | 5 | 60 | 6 |
| July | Cancer | 3 | Moon | 2 | 10 | 1 |
| August | Leo | 1 | Sun | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| September | Virgo | 10 | Mercury | 5 | 50 | 5 |
| October | Libra | 8 | Venus | 6 | 48 | 3 |
| November | Scorpio | 9 | Mars | 9 | 81 | 9 |
| December | Sagittary | 4 | Jupiter | 3 | 12 | 3 |
It is then seen that the total value of the planets’ numbers is 65, while the total of the unit values of the products is also 65. It is satisfactory to find that wherever we are consistent and hold to the traditional values and positions of the several factors, we obtain results that are wonderfully harmonious and suggestive.
There is an ancient symbol known as the “Golden Candlestick” which is in the nature of a candelabrum with seven arms. Each of the seven lights answers to one of the seven celestial bodies known to the ancients, and the order of them is that known as the Chaldean, in use among astrologers. Here is the symbol—
Figure 15.
It will be seen at once that the interchange of the planets is confirmatory of the astrological method derived from the sign rulerships. Saturn interchanges with the Moon, Jupiter with Mercury, Mars with Venus, while the Sun stands in the centre of the system giving light to all. These lights answer to the seven Rays, the seven Spirits before the Throne, the seven Archangels, Cassiel, the keeper of secrets—Saturn; Zadkiel, the spirit of Justice—Jupiter; Madimial, the spirit of those who make Red—Mars; Michael, who is “like unto God”—Sun; Haniel, the spirit of Splendour—Venus; Raphael, the spirit of Healing—Mercury; and Gabriel, the spirit of Strength—Moon.
In connection with this symbol there is another which affords several glyphs in combination. It is called the Seven-pointed Star and Star of the Universe. A star of seven points being drawn, the planetary bodies, the Sun and Moon, are placed round it in the Chaldean order, the Sun being at the highest point, thus—
Figure 16.
It is then found that the Sun holds the unique position of supreme elevation, while the “pairs of opposites,” Venus and Mars, Mercury and Jupiter, Moon and Saturn, are functioning on successively lower planes.
By starting with the first day of the week, Sunday, at the point of the Sun and following the lines of the Star, we shall derive the days of the week in their order, namely, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. By reading from Mars and taking every alternate planet, we get the order of the atomic weights of the metals to which the ancients ascribed these planets; namely, Iron, Copper, Silver, Tin, Gold, Mercury and Lead. This fact seems strongly to support the view that there is a very real connection between the planets and the metals referred to them by the ancients, for while it is fairly certain that they did not know anything about atomic weights, they very clearly associated the celestial bodies with the primary metals, and the fact that they are brought into line through the apparent velocities of the several bodies of the solar system seems to afford a suggestive basis for further inquiry. We all are used to speaking of the “golden” sun and the “silver” moon, and we also speak in terms of cosmic symbolism when we refer to an “iron” will, or of “steeling” oneself against a danger, for Mars is the astrological index of the Will, and the uses of steel and iron are for defence and offence. In the name of Mercury we have actually retained the ancient name associated with the metal, although the root of it is merx, trade, and has no direct associations with quicksilver. But we pick up the link of connection through the known association of Mercury with trade and shipping, and when we see the winged messengers or trading vessels carrying their burden of foreign goods from one country to another, we understand why Mercury was called the Interpreter, for in astrology the planet Mercury is the symbol of commerce, and it “confers the gift of tongues.” Pliny says that copper was first discovered in Cyprus, from which it gets its name, and, according to astrologers from the time of Ptolemy until now, the sign Taurus, one of the signs of Venus, rules Cyprus. This sidelight is of interest, displaying as it does the universality of planetary dominions. Copper, of course, was in use before Cyprus had been named or exploited, but it is of interest to observe that a copper-bearing territory, which has given the metal a name in the West, should be found both traditionally and experimentally to be under the dominion of the planet Venus, which the ancients associated with that metal. Lead, which is named in connection with Saturn, the Lunar alternative, has been spoken of by some of the old Hermetists as a disease of the Moon, and it is suggested that the “sick Lady” took a bad turn at a certain point in her career, and instead of appearing in shining silver robes, put on those of leaden grey. It is worthy of note that silver ore is frequently found in lead, and silver has been successfully extracted from lead since 1829, when Pattinson developed his useful process.
Before leaving this subject of Kabalas connected with planetary numbers, it may be well to point out that the Kabala displayed in the beginning of this chapter may also be applied to the Chaldean order of the planets and their numbers, yielding the same results.